Finance

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The International Monetary Fund said there is progress in talkswith Kenya for a new program, months after a standby facility for the East African nation ended. “Significant progress was made during the mission” in December “and discussions on a new fund-supported program are continuing,” said Jan Mikkelsen, the Washington-based lender’s representative in Kenya. “There is no particular timeline.” The previous program, an insurance-type facility that Kenya would draw from in the event…

ALGIER (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gunvor Ltd., the commodity trading house controlled by billionaire Torbjorn Tornqvist, has discussed selling the company to Algeria’s state oil and gas producer, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The idea is preliminary but Sonatrach has started due diligence on acquiring all or part of the company, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private negotiations. A second plan under consideration would see Sonatrach,…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana will start a debt sale next month to prop up lenders as authorities seek 2 billion cedis ($403 million) in finance for banks undercapitalized banks. The government created a special-purpose vehicle known as Ghana Amalgamated Trust, or GAT, which will use the debt sale’s proceeds to purchase shares in five lenders and help them meet a minimum capital threshold of 400 million cedis. GAT will pay debt investors a…

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Anadarko Petroleum Corp. wants a fleet of at least six vehicles with armor heavy enough to stop AK-47 bullets at its natural-gas project in Mozambique. And it needs them soon. The company called for expressions of interest from potential suppliers of so-called B6 specification vehicles, and also wants associated fleet management services, according to an advertisement published in the Maputo-based Noticias newspaper on Thursday. Anadarko is expected to spend at…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt’s abolition of a repatriation mechanism for foreign investors won’t necessarily bring about more volatility in the pound, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The majority of fund flows in the local bond market over the past two years were already taking place outside the repatriation mechanism, which guaranteed foreign-exchange availability for overseas investors, Goldman said in a report. Even then, the pound remained stable, it said. Any fluctuation would…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa)  – South Africa’s Public Investment Corp. was reckless with pensioners’ funds when it invested about 90 billion rand ($6.6 billion) in bonds of state-owned utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., according to the Association for Monitoring and Advocacy of Government Pensions. Other poor decisions by Africa’s biggest money manager included the provision of financial support to business ventures of media tycoon Iqbal Surve, AMAGP representative Albert van Driel told a commission of inquiry in…