Features | - Part 141

Billionaire Wiese Takes Blow as Brait Struggles With Losses

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African billionaire Christo Wiese received more bad news as a company in which he’s the biggest shareholder reported a decline in the value of its investments alongside higher borrowings. Brait SE, in which Wiese owns a 35 percent stake, said net asset value was 57.32 rand at the end of March, compared with a restated 77.63 rand a year earlier, with retailer New Look struggling amid a sales slump on…

European Union Says Tariffs on U.S. Imports Will Kick In on June 22

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The European Commission will hit $3.3 billion worth of U.S. goods including Harley Davidson motorcycles and Levi’s blue jeans with a fresh 25% tariff Friday as the trade war between Washington and its biggest global economic partners continues to escalate. Europe has brought forward its response to President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, the European Commission said Wednesday, and will impose its own…

Winter Downpours Help Ease Risk of Cape Town Running Dry

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Fears that Cape Town, South Africa’s second-biggest city and most popular tourist attraction, would run out of water have abated as good winter rains help top up dam levels and ease the worst drought on record. The six main dams supplying the city are at 38.1 percent of capacity, compared with 31.8 percent a week earlier and just 23 percent a year ago, the city said on its website on Monday. Cape…

Zimbabwe Opposition Party Denied Access to Voters Roll

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change hasn’t been given an electronic copy of the voters roll despite repeated requests, a party official said. The MDC has been trying to obtain an electronic copy for two weeks, but has been rebuffed on a daily basis, Senator David Coltart told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview from Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, on Monday. “I’m apoplectic. How come the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission…

Ivory Coast Coalition Partner Rejects Merger Before Elections

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – The main partner in President Alassane Ouattara’s ruling coalition won’t go ahead with a proposal to unify their parties before presidential elections in two years and plans to field its own candidate. The announcement is a setback for Ouattara and plans to merge the six parties that make up the ruling coalition, which would have consolidated its grip on power in the world’s biggest cocoa producer and forced the two…

Iran Says Three OPEC Members to Veto Saudi-Proposed Supply Boost

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Iran says Venezuela and Iraq will join it in blocking a proposal to increase oil production that’s backed by Saudi Arabia and Russia when OPEC and its allies meet in Vienna this week. “Three OPEC founders are going to stop it,” Iran’s representative to the bloc Hossein Kazempour Ardebili said in comments to Bloomberg on Sunday. “If the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Russia want to increase production, this requires unanimity….

South Africa’s New Mining Charter to Credit Past Black Deals

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa will give mining companies credit for past black-empowerment deals even when the investors later sold their shares to whites or foreigners, removing a major concern for the industry. The country’s new Mining Charter, which is aimed at distributing South Africa’s mineral wealth more widely, will apply the “once empowered, always empowered” principle as long they met the previous 26 percent black-ownership requirement. The minimum percentage will also…

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