Southern Africa |

Rio Tinto Says Africa Key to Growth Even After Costly Missteps

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Rio Tinto Group said resource-rich Africa is still central to the company’s growth strategy despite a succession of failed investments and scandals in the last 10 years. The continent will expand its production and consumption of metals over the next decades as the economy grows and becomes more industrial, Bold Baatar, Rio’s chief executive of energy and minerals, said in a speech at Bloomberg Intelligence’s LME Week Forum in London….

South Africa’s State Pension Fund Preparing for National Downgrade

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s main government workers’ pension fund is seeking permission to invest more cash in international assets to protect against the impact of a possible downgrade of the country’s local-currency debt to junk status. The Government Employees Pension Fund is in talks with Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba about easing its investment criteria to include more foreign bonds and equities, Abel Sithole, principal executive officer, told reporters in Johannesburg on Tuesday….

South Africa Business Fears Political Limbo If ANC Vote Stalls

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s main business group fears the country will be stuck in political limbo if infighting causes the ruling party’s elective conference in December not to go ahead. The race to succeed President Jacob Zuma as leader of the African National Congress is widely seen as a head-to-head contest between his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the leader’s ex-wife and former chairwoman of the African Union Commission. The battle has grown fractious…

South Africa’s $14 Billion Question as Downgrade to Junk Looms

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Wall Street and other global banks say it’s a question of when, not if, South Africa loses investment grade status on its local-currency ratings. The bigger question is how much damage that would cause. Bank of America Corp. estimates there may be $14 billion of outflows if rand debt is excluded from Citigroup Inc.’s World Government Bond Index, which requires non-junk ratings from Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings. That…

Moody’s says South Africa budget credit negative; central bank flags growth fears

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ratings agency Moody’s said on Monday the budget statement presented by South African Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba last week was credit negative, while a central bank official raised concerns over economic growth. Gigaba shocked markets on Oct. 25 by flagging sharply weaker growth expectations, wider deficits and rising government debt. The comments by Moody‘s, which along with S&P Global is expected to review South Africa’s credit ratings next month,…

Moody’s assigns B2 first-time issuer ratings to the Government of Swaziland, with a negative outlook

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa)– Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has today assigned first-time issuer ratings of B2 to the Government of Swaziland. The outlook is negative. The rating assignment is based on the following key drivers: 1. Economic strength assessed at ‘Low (+), reflecting the country’s relatively small and slow-growing economy, but well integrated and resilient on top of its middle-income status. 2. Institutional strength constrained by governance challenges that have been hampering fiscal policy-making…

Spinoffs Drive South Africa Listings as Valuations Spur Sellers

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s main stock exchange may witness the most new listings for at least two years in 2017, helped by a spate of spinoffs as owners look to tap a market trading near record highs. Of the 18 debuts this year, six are carved out of other companies, most of which are publicly traded. A further four new arrivals are backed by collections of investment holdings, rather than providing…

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