The Editorial Team |

South Africa Inflation at 10-Month High as Food Costs Surge

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African consumer-price growth quickened in December as food costs surged, complicating the central bank’s task less than a week before it will decide on borrowing costs. Inflation accelerated to a 10-month high of 6.8 percent from 6.6 percent in November, Statistics South Africa said in a report released Wednesday in the capital, Pretoria. The median estimate of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for inflation of 6.5 percent. Prices rose 0.4 percent in…

Nigeria Plan to Link Mines to Steel Mill Seen as Buhari Test

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s plan to build a railway to supply iron ore to its idle Ajaokuta steel plant could be the biggest sign yet that President Muhammadu Buhari is implementing his policy to diversify away from oil. The project began in 1979 with what the World Bank in 2002 called obsoleteSoviet technology, and has never been finished. Authorities want to revive it as part of Buhari’s efforts to lessen the economy’s dependence on crude, which accounts for…

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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…

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