Lending cap, drought hurting Kenya’s banks: Equity Group CEO

Lending cap, drought hurting Kenya’s banks: Equity Group CEO

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan lenders are facing severe turbulence, grappling with a government cap on commercial lending rates, and the impact of a drought, Equity Group Chief Executive James Mwangi said on Wednesday. Equity, one of the country’s biggest by customers, saw its pretax profit edge up 3.75 percent last year to 24.9 billion shillings ($242.22 million), as it boosted provisions for bad debts. Mwangi said the cap on rates, at 4…

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Nigeria’s inflation slows after fifteen months in February

Nigeria’s inflation slows after fifteen months in February

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Inflation in February accelerated at a slower pace to 17.87% YoY (January: 18.72% YoY; Consensus Estimate: 17.32% YoY), with prices pulling back after fifteen months of consecutive increase. Whilst the rise in food prices remained strong in February at 18.53% YoY, the “All Items Less Farm Produce Index” ( a proxy for core inflation) provided the buffer for the headline CPI, moderating for the third consecutive month to 16.01%…

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Nampak Shares Drop as Funds Trapped in Nigeria, Angola Increase

Nampak Shares Drop as Funds Trapped in Nigeria, Angola Increase

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nampak Limited fell after Africa’s biggest beverage-can maker said cash stranded in Nigeria and Angola rose in the five months through February as it continues to battle to get money out of the countries. The stock fell as much as 2.3 percent to 15.99 rand before trading 0.7 percent lower at 10:30 a.m. in Johannesburg, extending its decline this year to 12 percent and giving the company a market value of 11 billion…

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CIM Financial of Mauritius Sees Global Unit Sale Boosting Credit Business

CIM Financial of Mauritius Sees Global Unit Sale Boosting Credit Business

PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – CIM Financial Services Limited., which has operations spanning Mauritius and Singapore, plans to focus on developing its consumer-credit and real-estate businesses after selling off its Global Business unit. The company, based in Port Louis, announced earlier on Tuesday that it’s selling its Global Business unit — which offers corporate, trust and fiduciary services — to Luxembourg-based SGG SA for $90.3 million. The deal “will allow CIM to benefit from an important…

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Africa Finance Corporation Invests US$25 million in Egypt’s Carbon Holdings

Africa Finance Corporation Invests US$25 million in Egypt’s Carbon Holdings

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a leading pan-African multilateral development finance institution and project developer, has announced it is to invest US$25 million in Egyptian petrochemicals company Carbon Holdings Ltd. Carbon Holdings primarily operates in the Suez Special Economic Zone. As well as exporting raw materials and end products, the company aims to develop an integrated large-scale petrochemicals platform in Egypt to take advantage of the country’s strategic geographic location…

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DEG invests ZAR100m in Southern African fashion retailer

DEG invests ZAR100m in Southern African fashion retailer

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa)- DEG is providing ZAR 100 million to Southern African retail chain, Retailability (Pty) Limited which targets customers in the low to middle income bracket. Retailability is deploying the additional capital to expand its operations – as it has recently acquired the fashion retailer LEGIT that also operates in Southern Africa. The investment was facilitated and led by the African Private Equity firm Metier through its Metier Capital Growth Fund II…

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CDC and IFC Invest up to US$35m in Africa Logistics Properties

CDC and IFC Invest up to US$35m in Africa Logistics Properties

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will invest up to US$35 million in Africa Logistics Properties Holding (ALP), a developer and manager of modern grade-A warehousing, filling an important gap in logistics infrastructure in the region. The investment – US$25m from CDC and US$10m from IFC – will be used for ALP’s developments in Nairobi, Kenya, the trading hub…

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