Private Equity

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Discovery Ltd. is on track to start a South African bank by the end of this year after agreeing to buy FirstRand Ltd.’s stake in a credit-card venture, a transaction which had delayed the lender’s launch. Johannesburg-based Discovery is joining a rush into South African retail banking by a range of entrants spanning from insurer Old Mutual Limited. to local banking-veteran Michael Jordaan, who is looking to start a digital-only offering. The country’s largest medical-insurance…

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Millicom International Cellular SA’s Tanzanian unit is targeting an initial public offering “in the near future” after a court ruled in the company’s favour in an ownership dispute, Managing Director Simon Karikari said. Tanzania’s Appeal Court ruled in July that Luxembourg-based Millicom was Tigo Tanzania’s rightful owner, dismissing a case by Geneva-based Golden Globe International Services Ltd. and Quality Group Ltd. of Tanzania that laid claim to…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. said it’s secured about 48.8 billion rand ($3.4 billion) of the funding the state-owned South African power utility requires for the financial year ending March 31. Of the remaining 23.2 billion rand, or 32 percent of the total, 15 billion rand will come from structured products, Eskom said in a statement on Tuesday. A further 4.5 billion rand will come from domestic bonds, including 2.3 billion rand with…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Cell C Pty Ltd. is planning a share sale in its home city of Johannesburg by the first quarter of 2020 as South Africa’s third-largest wireless company seeks funds for acquisitions. The exact timing of an initial public offering will depend on market conditions, Chief Executive Officer Jose Dos Santos said in an interview Tuesday. In the meantime, the carrier is looking at potential fibre-to-home deals to boost its internet and…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. is exploring a sale of shares in African online retailer Jumia and values the company at as much as $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Africa’s largest wireless carrier is considering an initial public offering of the Amazon.com Inc.-style business on the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange, said the people, who asked not to be named as the information isn’t public. Johannesburg-based MTN is…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – The companies developing Israel’s largest natural gas fields and their Egyptian partner have finalized details of a deal that would give them control over a pipeline to Egypt, according to people familiar with the matter, a crucial step that would pave the way for a $15 billion export contract. The deal involves setting up joint venture companies in Cyprus and the Netherlands, through which Israel’s Delek Drilling LP, U.S.-based Noble Energy Inc. and…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Helios Towers Plc is investing tens of millions of dollars in the Democratic Republic of Congo and looking for acquisitions as the African phone-tower operator seeks to move on from a scrapped initial public offering earlier this year. The company plans to build 1,800 kilometres (1,118 miles) of tower network in the Congo to connect an additional 6 million people in sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country, Chief Executive Officer Kash Pandya said by…