Features | - Part 225

U.S. Companies Lag in Race to Tap Africa’s Growth Potential

LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: That was the warning from political and business leaders who attended the second U.S.-Africa Business Forum in New York on Wednesday and dismissed an economic slowdown in the world’s poorest continent as a temporary blip. They highlighted the potential of its expanding middle class, untapped mineral riches and uncultivated arable land. U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has reinforced the vision of an Africa on rise, spearheading a program to more than double…

Richest African Dangote Plans to Buy Arsenal in Four Years

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, plans to buy London-based Arsenal soccer team within four years. Dangote, a Nigerian worth $10.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, announced his intention to buy the club last year. He said he needs to wait for his business prospects to improve and his investments in gas pipelines and an oil refinery to play out before making the acquisition. “There’s no doubt” he’ll buy Arsenal and “it’s not a…

Nigeria hunts down 700,000 firms in tax crackdown to offset oil slump

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: Nigeria has hunted down 700,000 firms that have never paid taxes as the country seeks new revenue sources to offset low oil prices that have pushed Africa’s biggest economy into its first recession in more than 20 years, its tax chief said. Tunde Fowler, executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), said in a rare interview that he also expected 10 million individuals to be discovered by December…

Too Many Satellites Means Sky-High Margins Under Pressure

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LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: Satellite operators are launching more high-powered communications rigs into space, with two more set to join about two-dozen already in orbit by the end of the year, crowding the skies and threatening the industry’s fat profit margins. The new orbiters being launched at a cost of as much as $500 million each are forcing established operators to embark on costly upgrades of their fleets at a time when their business…

Obama’s Africa Power Plan Falls Short, Leaving Continent in Dark

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LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: President Barack Obama’s signature initiative for Africa — a $9.7 billion plan to double electricity access in the world’s poorest continent — has fallen well short of its goals, so far producing less than 5 percent of the new power generation it promised. Obama announced Power Africa three years ago with an ambitious goal: to add 10,000 megawatts of power and supply electricity to 20 million households within five years. As…

Gold Digger Turns Alchemist Chasing Billions Hidden in Waste

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: With gold output in South Africa mired in a multiyear decline, the country’s biggest producer is turning to an overlooked and potentially cheaper source of supply: the dump. About 6.5 million ounces valued at $8.5 billion is buried inside mammoth mounds of discarded mine waste at sites owned by Sibanye Gold Ltd. They’re leftovers from more than five decades of excavation west of Johannesburg. But there’s a catch. The traces are so small that…

South Africa’s Top Gold Miner Says President Zuma Must Quit

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: South African President Jacob Zuma “has to go,” with poor governance deterring prospective investors, according to the head of Sibanye Gold Ltd., the biggest producer of bullion in the country. “Any solid investor, any solid company is founded on good governance and what we have in South Africa at the moment is very poor governance, from a government point of view,” Sibanye Chief Executive Officer Neal Froneman said in an interview on Monday from the Denver Gold…

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