Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – China’s crude oil purchases from the Middle East and West Africa dropped to a four-month low in December, following a buying binge the previous month that saw the Asian country’s stockpiles swell. Observed flows to China from the two regions dropped to 5.04 million barrels a day, the lowest since August, after reaching a 2018-high of 6.45 million barrels daily in November, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. Most of the…

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia’s mining-tax increase could lower government revenues instead of boosting them as copper miners fire workers and curb production, according to JPMorgan Cazenove. Under the higher royalties introduced on Jan. 1, almost one-third of the country’s mine output is unprofitable, JPMorgan said in a note to clients dated Jan. 7. That means the new tax regime could backfire on Africa’s second-biggest copper producer. “These higher-cost operations are also the more labor-intensive…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Africa Finance Corp. said that as the sole mandated lead arranger it helped raise a syndicated loan totaling 577 million euros ($662 million) for Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage, an oil and gas company with operations in the Ivory Coast. “AFC’s participation was for 192 million euros,” the African finance institution said in an emailed statement on Monday. “The purpose of the facility is to repay historical obligations on…

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s top exporter of coltan — a raw material needed to make mobile phones — has signed on to a rival mineral-tracing program after exiting the more-established ITSCI system. Societe Miniere de Bisunzu is joining RCS Global Group’s Better Sourcing system, the parties said in a joint statement. Like ITSCI, Better Sourcing provides tracking and verification services for minerals originating in Congo and neighboring countries…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tencent Holdings Ltd. joined Naspers Ltd. in a $1 billion investment in Indian food delivery service Swiggy, which gains a potentially valuable ally in China’s largest social media and gaming company. Naspers led the financing, which snagged new backers Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management in addition to existing investors DST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue. The funding round, which Bloomberg reported on in October, marks Swiggy’s third for 2018 and largest to date. Naspers, Africa’s most valuable company, said it put…