Finance

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Former Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabilaapproved an oil contract that encroaches on a world-famous national park during his final weeks in office. Kabila signed a decree Dec. 13 validating a production-sharing agreement between closely held South African company DIG Oil Ltd. and the state oil firm for three permits in central Congo. A large section of one licence — Block 8 — covers territory inside Salonga National Park,…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – International Finance Corporation has made its first investment in Comoros to Telecom Comores S.A., known as Telco SA.   The €13 million ($15 million) loan has the potential to transform the mobile market in one of the least developed telecom markets in Africa and globally.  It will support the introduction of competition in a previously monopolized sector and help address the significant gap in connectivity and affordability.  “IFC financing…

LAGOS(Capital Markets in Africa) – Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp., Ltd., JAC Motors, China’s automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer, has announced the results of its expansion program in Africa in 2018, declaring that it has established a presence in 28 countries across the continent. Spurred on by China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI), the country’s program to fund and build infrastructure projects around the world along the ancient Silk Road trade routes, JAC Motors has…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) The rand has become the whipping boy for investors concerned about South Africa’s struggling electricity utility and its impact on the country’s economy. After posting the best start to a year on record on January, the currency is heading for its biggest February loss since Bloomberg started compiling the data in 1989. Eskom’s bonds, meanwhile, are behaving as if there’s no problem, even as traders fret about the government’s ability to rescue the state-owned company…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – EOH Holdings Ltd., the South African IT company reeling after an anonymous complaint prompted Microsoft Corp. to abruptly cancel a contract, has created an app that will make that process easier for future whistleblowers. Expose-It, which was made available for download on Monday, enables those with sensitive information about their company or organization to pass it on to relevant authorities without fear of being identified. The app is designed to…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Rules put in place to save U.K. taxpayers from bailing out major lenders again are having an unintended side effect. They’re encouraging HSBC Holdings Plc to wade into a market it long neglected: British mortgages. Trading updates in recent weeks from Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Metro Bank Plc said competition to lend to British home buyers was intensifying, even with Brexit looming. HSBC has been wooing first-time home buyers in…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Honda Motor Co. is planning to close its factory in the U.K., dealing a new blow to a British auto industry already struggling with a Brexit-related slowdown and potential tariffs, Sky News reported, citing an unnamed source close to the company. The Japanese manufacturer could announce the decision to close the plant in Swindon by 2022 as early as Tuesday. The factory, Honda’s only one in the EU, employs around…