Private Equity

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…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A rumoured IPO of the world’s biggest crypto-miner might end up as a play on advanced AI chips.  The 1980s cyberpunk novels that predicted today’s internet failed to conceive of anything as outlandish or contradictory as Bitcoin: A digital currency that’s spent nowhere, a commodity that’s used for nothing, and a libertarian dream that’s effectively run by elites. Now, after its 66-percent price drop from December highs, comes yet another fantastical…