Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. agreed to sell a minority stake to CITIC Metal Co., making the Chinese conglomerate the largest shareholder in the Canadian mining company and bumping founder Robert Friedland to second place. CITIC will pay C$3.68 apiece for 196.6 million common shares, a premium of about 14 percent to the June 8 closing price. Ivanhoe will use the proceeds of approximately C$723 million ($555 million) to invest in the Vancouver-based…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – With financial backing from the U.S. government, solar developer Gigawatt Global Cooperatief UA signed a deal with the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States to build $1 billion of renewable energy projects in the region. The U.S. is supporting the project through its Power Africa initiative set up in 2013 under President Barack Obama’s administration, a program that had pledged to invest $7 billion over five years. The advancement of this deal…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A British company aims to provide solar power to millions of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the vast central African nation where less than a fifth of the population have access to electricity. London-based BBOXX Ltd. last week announced it signed a deal with Congo’s government securing exemptions on import duties and value-added tax for solar equipment. That step has removed “prohibitively high” costs related to bringing in panels and…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Vodacom Group Limited proposed raising the black-owned shareholding in Africa’s largest wireless carrier by selling a stake of about 6 percent to certain investors and employees. The 17.5 billion-rand ($1.3 billion) deal will help Vodacom comply with a government initiative to raise black ownership in Africa’s most industrialized economy, part of ongoing efforts to redress inequalities originating from white-minority rule. After the transaction, about 20 percent of Vodacom will be controlled by…

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ethiopia, landlocked since the secession of Eritrea a quarter century ago, may consider building a naval base in neighbouring Kenya to strengthen its military capabilities, the head of the state shipping company said. The facility could form part of a port the Kenyan government is building at Lamu, said Roba Megerssa Akawak, chief executive officer of the state-owned Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Services Enterprise. The 390 billion-shilling ($3.87…