Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – African nations should consider increasing access to markets within the region to help offset the effects of increased U.S. protectionism, theWorld Bank’s vice president for the continent said. “The region may need to expand market access to absorb the costs arising from the hike in tariffs,” Hafez Ghanem said in an interview Thursday in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. “This would include strengthening trade among Africa countries.” Escalating trade tensions are threatening to…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Transnet SOC Ltd., South Africa’s state-owned rail and ports operator, paid 509 million rand ($38 million) more for 100 locomotives after switching a supply contract to a Chinese rail company from Mitsui & Co. of Japan, according to a report commissioned by the National Treasury. The finding is part of an investigation into so-called state capture, in which private individuals used influence over government officials to win contracts from…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Lenders in Ivory Coast are threatening to stop financing cocoa exports unless the government halts the liquidation of a local shipping company, with units of BNP Paribas SA and Societe Generale SA among banks exposed to debt that may not be repaid, according to people familiar with the matter. Banks and the government are continuing talks after a court on July 18 ordered the liquidation of Saf-Cacao, which two years ago was the country’s second-biggest…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Steinhoff International Holdings NV won support from a majority of creditors to restructure its 9.4 billion euros ($11 billion) of debt, seen by the embattled retailer as a vital step toward its recovery from an accounting scandal. The owner of Conforama in France and Mattress Firm in the U.S. sought a three-year extension to payments due to lenders and bondholders as the South African company repairs its balance sheet. About…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s tax agency is investigating local billionaire Christo Wiese and former executives at law firm ENSafrica for their role in obstructing the collection of 3.7 billion rand ($279 million) in taxes, according to a report in the Financial Mail. ENSafrica created a tax structure to help pan-African crude-oil explorer Tullow Oil Plc shift assets valued at 3.9 billion rand out of the country, dodging taxes in the process, the Johannesburg-based…