Finance | - Part 104

South Africa Sees Receptive Market for $3 Billion Bond Sale

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa plans to tap international markets for as much as $3 billion as the country seeks to take advantage of relatively low rates and strong demand from yield-hungry investors. “We will be coming shortly and taking advantage of the favourable market conditions,” Tshepiso Moahloli, chief director of liability management at the National Treasury, told reporters in London after meetings with investors. “The market is conducive and we’re keen to…

Sanlam Scours Africa for More Deals After Biggest Purchase

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Fresh from sealing its biggest ever deal, Sanlam Ltd. is still scouring Africa for more acquisitions to extend its lead as the continent’s largest financial-services company outside of banking. The Cape Town-based insurer will spend $1.1 billion to take full control of Morocco’s Saham Finances SA, bringing its total investment in the firm to almost $1.7 billion since February 2016. The deal will give Sanlam access to Saham’s 26 markets across…

MTN Casts Eye Over Empire as Carrier Mulls Over Where to Chop

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company is doing a spring clean of its empire. MTN Group Ltd. said Thursday it’s conducting a review to decide whether it really needs to be in all 22 of its markets across Africa and the Middle East. Some of them are tiny, others are war-torn while still more have regulators desperate to curb the Johannesburg-based company’s perceived dominance. Here are a few countries where MTN is…

Exxon Punished for Departing From Big Oil’s Austerity Hymnal

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Exxon Mobil Corp. is ramping up capital spending even as the rest of Big Oil preaches prudence. Investors punished the outlier. The world’s biggest publicly-traded oil company by market value unveiled an aggressive revamp of its upstream portfolio on Wednesday, lifting cash outlays by at least 25 percent to more than $30 billion a year in the early 2020s. That’s in stark contrast to rivals such as Chevron Corp. which…

Aspen CEO Sees China Overtaking South Africa as Biggest Market

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. sees China eventually overtaking South Africa as its biggest market as the company completes its transition to a global therapeutics business from an Africa-focused generic-drugs maker. The business sells medicines in more than 150 countries and is looking for partners as it expands in China, the Middle East and the U.S. The infant-milk formula market is just one area that represents a good opportunity in Asia’s…

Kenya Requests Six-Month Extension of Standby Loan, IMF Says

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya asked the International Monetary Fund for a six-month extension to a $1.5-billion standby facility to allow more time to complete delayed reviews of an IMF-supported program. The government committed to reducing its fiscal deficit and “substantially modifying” controls on commercial interest rates to achieve the objectives of the program, the Washington-based lender said in an emailed statement. The request for a six-month extension of the precautionary financing will be presented to…

South African Business Leaders Upbeat as Ramaphosa Rings Changes

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been a hit with business leaders and investors during his first three weeks in office. Since succeeding Jacob Zuma, who was immersed in scandal during his nine-year tenure, Ramaphosa has fired several ineffective ministers, taken a stand against graft and ordered a review of draft rules that deterred investment in the mining industry. Improved confidence may boost weak economic growth and investment and could help stave…

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