Private Equity

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Orange SA is partnering Ivory Coast’s Groupe NSIA to start banking operations in West Africa as the telecommunications group accelerates an expansion into financial services, according to three people familiar with the matter. The venture plans to use the assets in Ivory Coast and Senegal that NSIAacquired from Nigeria’s Diamond Bank Plc in November, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The partnership will…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s main manufacturing body said it will oppose plans for an African free trade area until the government has done more studies on its impact. “When they open our borders for all manner of products to come into this country, most of our industries will be out of business,” Frank Jacobs, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, told reporters in Lagos, the commercial capital, on Tuesday. “We will continue…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Quilter Plc’s rose in its first day of trading in London and Johannesburg as the U.K. wealth manager set its own path after being spun out of Old Mutual Plc. The breakup of 173-year-old Old Mutual will be largely complete this week as the London-based insurer hives off its businesses after determining that they would be worth more on their own. The initial public offering of Quilter on Monday will be followed…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa’s largest cattle feedlot is considering a management buyout that will value the company based south of Johannesburg at about 6 billion rand ($450 million), according to two people familiar with the matter. The management of Karan Beef (Pty) Ltd. may approach the Public Investment Corp. — which manages pension funds of South African government workers — to assist it with funding, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Azuri’s HomeSmart adjusts power output based on prior solar battery use. In sub-Saharan Africa, home electricity is a 50-50 prospect and bank accounts can be rare, but most people have some kind of cellphone. The phones provide information often tough to come by in rural areas—the latest commodity prices, for example. And even in places where pastoral tribesmen tend livestock in very old-school ways, they may also chat over…