The Editorial Team |

Citigroup, Top Africa Loan Arranger, Sees M&A Boosting Lending

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Citigroup Inc., sub-Saharan Africa’s top loan arranger in 2016, expects increased sovereign demand and mergers and acquisitions to drive lending in the region this year as low valuations spur deals. “Lots of financing activity is expected in 2017,” Aziz Rahman, the bank’s head of corporate finance in the region said in an interview on Monday. Loans to sovereigns and corporates will increase as M&A deals rise and infrastructure spending picks…

Microlender Plans West African Expansion After Ghana Acquisition

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Letshego Holdings Ltd., the Botswana microlender that has made acquisitions in Nigeria and Ghana during the past year, plans to enter Ivory Coast to boost access to West Africa’s francophone market. The lender, which has operations in 11 African countries, is also weighing up an expansion into Zambia and Zimbabwe, Chief Executive Officer Christopher Low said in an interview in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone. Letshego, which had a loan book of $620 million…

Gambia’s Jammeh Imposes State of Emergency, Defying Region

Posted on by The Editorial Team

BANJUL (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gambian President Yahya Jammeh declared a 90-day state of emergency two days before he’s supposed to hand over power to the winner of last month’s election, as West African nations prepared to send a military force to remove him from power. In a speech on state TV late Tuesday, Jammeh said the measure was necessary because of the “unprecedented and extraordinary amount of interference” in the Dec. 1 ballot. He also…

GAIA Infrastructure acquires 25.2% stake in Dorper Wind Farm, South Africa

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURGH (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gaia Infrastructure Capital Limited (“GAIA” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company’s listing has transferred from a SPAC (“Special Purpose Acquisition Company”) to the Investment Services sector of the JSE Limited (“JSE”). The move was facilitated by the completion of the acquisition of an effective see-through economic interest of 25.2% in Dorper Wind Farm (Proprietary) Limited (“Dorper” or “the Acquisition”) for R501 million (“Viable Asset Transaction”)….

Carlyle to become largest shareholder in South Africa’s Global Credit Ratings

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Carlyle Group has agreed to become the largest shareholder in Johannesburg-based Global Credit Ratings (GCR), the U.S. buyout fund said on Tuesday, looking to broaden the pan-African ratings agency’s services. Terms of the deal, which was first reported by the Financial Times, were not disclosed. Carlyle is set to buy around half of the equity in GCR from its management founders and German development finance business DEG, which will remain…

Germany and African Countries Seek to Strengthen Trade and Investment Ties

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – This year, Germany will host the first ever privately held event exclusively dedicated to strengthening trade and investment ties between Germany and the African continent. The Germany-Africa Business Forum (www.GermanyAfrica.com), which will take place March 23, 2017 in Frankfurt, capitalizes on a wave of interest taken by the German government and companies to increase their engagement with African countries. Last October, German Chancellor made a 3-day visit to Mali,…

Brexit, Trump worries push gold to highest in almost 8 weeks

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gold jumped more than 1 percent to its highest in nearly eight weeks on Tuesday, as excerpts of a speech to be given later by Britain’s prime minister pointed to a definitive exit from the European Union. Safe-haven assets such as gold, the Japanese yen and U.S. Treasuries benefited as investors sought refuge from the uncertainty of what a “hard Brexit” would mean for global markets. Spot gold rose 1.1…

« 1 … 756 757 758 759 760 … 1,073 »