Finance

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed almost $8 billion in deals as the oil-rich kingdom’s crown prince began a Middle East tour aimed at promoting his role as a regional power-broker.   The two nations signed 14 investment pacts valued at $7.7 billion, Egyptian state-run Middle East News Agency reported Tuesday, covering sectors including renewables, pharmaceuticals and e-commerce.  Among them was an agreement with ACWA Power to generate and transfer…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Elon Musk cautioned there are a number of issues to iron out before he can complete his $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc., including getting an accurate measure of bots on the social media platform and completing financing for the deal. The proportion of fake, spam and bot accounts on the service is “still a very significant matter,” Musk said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the…

NAMIBIA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia expects its biggest oil discoveries since independence to help double its economy by 2040, Jennifer Comalie, chairperson of National Petroleum Corp. of Namibia, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. TotalEnergies SE in February said it had made a “significant” oil discovery off the coast of Namibia, three weeks after Shell Plc announced a find off the southwest African nation. Explorers have drilled more than a dozen exploration wells in search of…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The African Development Bank plans to help mobilize as much as $40 billion to help coal-dependent South Africa’s to transition to cleaner energy, part of a plan that it says won’t add to the country’s debt and could serve as a model for other nations. The lender, which didn’t give details on how the money would be raised, has been meeting members of the Group of Seven rich nations…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s Eurobonds are not exactly investors’ favorites. But the East African nation is forging ahead with a plan to issue another $1 billion of debt on top of existing securities that are the continent’s worst performers this year. It could cost the country, which is approaching an election in August and whose debt is at high risk of distress, according to International Monetary Fund. Yields on benchmark 10-year notes have…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A gauge measuring South African manufacturing sentiment dropped the most in nine months in April after the worst flooding in almost three decades left more than 400 people dead, damaged businesses and halted operations at the nation’s biggest port. Absa Group Ltd.’s purchasing managers’ index, compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research, dropped to 50.7 from 60 a month earlier. That’s the biggest monthly decline and the lowest reading…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is considering a bond sale targeted at its citizens overseas to raise funds to help Africa’s biggest economy narrow its budget deficit. The government may sell the debt after it repays $300 million of diaspora bonds maturing in June, Patience Oniha, director-general of the Abuja-based Debt Management Office said in a text message on Thursday. “We are doing both an analysis of recent research report on diaspora remittances…