Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Development banks committed a record $43 billion in climate finance last year, a jump of almost $8 billion on 2017’s figure and the biggest surge ever reported. The co-finance attached to the multilateral development bank money added another $68.1 billion, taking the year’s total to more than $111 billion, according to a report by six banks including the World Bank Group. More than a third of that total was…

Dedicated African merchant banking house, Africa Merchant Capital, is delighted to announce the appointment of Kenton Hartwell as the new General Manager for AMC Trade Finance. Kenton brings with him more than 20 years of African banking and trade finance experience. In the Africa Merchant Capital Group, Kenton will head up the fast-growing subsidiary AMC Trade Finance, offering a range of structured trade finance solutions for the African import and export markets. Kenton is a…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African equity investors got the election result they wanted, more or less. Now they’re hoping President Cyril Ramaphosa will follow up by choosing a team of competent ministers that’s lean and free of the taint of scandal. Ramaphosa is expected to announce his cabinet within the next few days and the early signs have encouraged investors: former Environment Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, accused of taking bribes, has already been ruled out. The…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Anheuser-Busch InBev NV sees further African investment after spending about $200 million on the continent since the world’s largest brewer bought SABMiller in 2016, according to Chief Executive Officer Carlos Brito. AB Inbev, based in Leuven in Belgium, has invested the bulk of that money in South Africa and Nigeria, Brito told reporters in Johannesburg on Wednesday. That includes a new brewery near Lagos, the commercial capital of Africa’s…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – The collateral for African Export-Import Bank’s $500 million loan to Zimbabwe is a mine that hasn’t been dug yet, people familiar with the matter said. The loan, which will be paid over four years when production starts, is backed by a mine that Great Dyke Investments, a venture between Russian investors and the Zimbabwean military, plans to build at a cost of $4 billion, the people said. The mine,…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Vedanta Resources Ltd. is learning the hard way that when it comes to Zambia’s copper-mining industry, history tends to repeat itself. Fifty years ago, Zambia’s first post-independence leader Kenneth Kaundanationalized mines owned by Anglo American Plc and Roan Selection Trust to rally his political supporters. Now populist President Edgar Lungu is taking legal steps to take over the operations of Vedanta’s Konkola Copper Mines, alleging the unit lied about expansion plans and cheated on taxes. With…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Afrioca) – China blamed Washington for wrecking trade talks and insisted the U.S. must alter its “wrong practices” before negotiations can resume, leaving the next move to President Donald Trump as financial markets slump amid prospects for a prolonged dispute. “China’s stance on the talks has been clear — if the U.S. wants to resume talks, they should show sincerity and correct their wrong practices,” ministry spokesman Gao Feng said in Beijing on Thursday. “Only…