Ethiopia | Government-led growth model is maintained — BAoML

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Capital Markets in Africa — Ethiopia’s government-led growth model shows no signs of significant change, with many meetings focused on investment in new industrial parks across the country as part of the second Growth and Transformation plan (GTP2) that runs from 2015 to 2020. The major investment areas are infrastructure, energy, and education/healthcare. GDP growth (which the IMF expects at c.8% in the medium term) continues to be driven by the government….

Read More

Gabon | Prioritizing spend in an election year — Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Gabon | Prioritizing spend in an election year — Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Libreville, Gabon, Capital Markets in Africa —The Gabonese government is taking steps to mitigate the effect of lower oil prices (oil makes up 40% of revenues) by re-prioritizing its development plans. A supplementary budget is expected to be released in the summer, which will detail where spending can be cut with minimal social and growth impacts. The government is using US$30/bbl in the budget (compared to US$42 previously) and expects GDP growth of 3.2% and…

Read More

Private Equity | Synergy Capital invests in Suburban Fiber, Nigeria

Private Equity | Synergy Capital invests in Suburban Fiber, Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Synergy Capital Managers (Synergy) has announced the completion of its investment in Suburban Fiber Company Limited (Suburban), a Next Generation Broadband company focused on delivering home content solutions to retail end customers in Abuja and Lagos. This is the sixth investment from the Synergy Private Equity Fund I (SPEF). Suburban operates an Internet Protocol (IP) Next Generation Network (NGN) which, at its core, takes advantage of the technology…

Read More

Egypt Set to Name Ex-Banker as Finance Chief, State Media Says

CAIRO, Egypt, Capital Markets in Africa — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is set to appoint former investment banker Amr El-Garhy as finance minister as part of a partial cabinet change on Wednesday, the state-run Al-Akhbar newspaper reported. El-Garhy, a former executive at investment bank EFG-Hermes, will replace Hany Kadry Dimian, the newspaper reported, without saying how it obtained the information. El-Garhy is currently a board member of the Cairo-based investment firm Qalaa Holdings. His possible appointment was also reported…

Read More

Egypt Approaches JPMorgan, FGB as Bank Markets Local Debt

Egypt Approaches JPMorgan, FGB as Bank Markets Local Debt

CAIRO, Egypt, Capital Markets in Africa — National Bank of Egypt officials met with banks in the United Arab Emirates, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., as the North Africa nation seeks to attract foreign investors to its local-currency debt market after the biggest one-time devaluation of the pound since 2003 last week. Senior executives, including the bank’s treasurer, also met with First Gulf Bank and other investors to “explain” and market its product for hedging foreign-exchange risk aimed…

Read More

Zimbabwe orders foreign firms to Sell Shares to Black by April 1

Harare, Zimbabwe, Capital Markets in Africa — Zimbabwe will shut down foreign-owned companies on April 1 if they don’t comply with a law that requires them to sell or cede 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans, Indigenization Minister Patrick Zhuwao said. The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act was passed in 2010 under President Robert Mugabe’s black empowerment drive but implementation has been slow.  “Comply by that date or close shop, comply by that date…

Read More

Finance | IFC, EIB and Ecobank Partner to Boost SME Finance across Africa

Finance | IFC, EIB and Ecobank Partner to Boost SME Finance across Africa

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Capital Markets in Africa — International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), parent company of the Ecobank Group and leading pan-African full-service banking group, today signed a landmark risk-sharing agreement that will help fill the gap in financing for small and medium sized enterprises in some of Sub-Saharan Africa’s poorest and most fragile countries.  Under the agreement, EIB,…

Read More
1 932 933 934 935 936 1,076