Features

GUINEA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Societe Miniere de Boke, which mines aluminum raw material bauxite in Guinea, signed agreements with the West African nation to spend $3 billion on a railway, an alumina refinery and the development of new mining areas. The 135-kilometer (84-mile) railway, which will link mining operations to a river terminal, will cost an estimated $1.2 billion and is expected to start operations in 2022, the group said in a statement…

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – On a continent where true political reform often seems to be a mirage, Ethiopia is pursuing change at a breathtaking pace. Since taking over as premier in April, Abiy Ahmed has spearheaded a redistribution of power across Africa’s second-most populous nation – and its fastest-growing economy – that’s been under the iron rule of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front for a quarter-century. Vowing a crackdown on the “cancer” of corruption,…

TRIPOLI (Capital Markets in Africa)- It’s probably too soon for the UN to lift the sanctions on the LIA, but it could make a start by letting it invest the proceeds of maturing securities. In a tough environment for asset managers battling with declining stock markets and still ultra-low benchmark bond yields, spare a thought for Libya’s sovereign wealth fund. It also has to contend with militia attacks on its staff, competing claims about who runs…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Altria Group Inc., the maker of Marlboro, fell on news of a possible ban on menthol cigarettes in the U.S., which account for about 20 percent on the company’s profit. A senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration official said last week that the agency is looking at restricting menthol in traditional cigarettes. Doing so would be a step toward eliminating or tightly limiting use of the popular cigarette flavor,…