The Markets

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gold miners earned the ire of investors including billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson for entering into bad deals that destroyed shareholder value in the past. Shareholders of the two companies announcing a merger Monday signalled they think this time may be different. Barrick Gold Corp. Executive Chairman John Thornton said his company isn’t paying a premium under its agreement to buy Randgold Resources Ltd. The decision came after the company has been criticized for its “undisciplined…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan stocks are being pummeled by a combination of market-unfriendly policies and a strong dollar. The country’s main equity index has fallen 14 percent this quarter, the most among 95 global indexes tracked by Bloomberg. Stocks in East Africa’s biggest economy are in a bear market after sinking 24 percent from a record high in April. They now trade at their biggest discount to frontier-market equities in almost a year, based…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The rand’s at a tipping point, with analysts and derivatives traders at odds over the next move for South Africa’s currency. For Societe Generale SA, the rand’s 7.3 percent rally in the past three weeks is just a temporary blip, with more weakness in store as poor fundamentals and an unfavorable external backdrop weigh on the currency. Others, including Standard Chartered Plc, see the currency as undervalued and due…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt plans to issue international bonds worth about $5 billion in the coming months, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said Wednesday. “We don’t know the schedule yet, but we’re planning,” Maait told a gathering of business people in Cairo. “We are monitoring the interest rate, we are monitoring international markets.” Maait said that the exact issue size had yet to be finalized and Egypt was still considering what currency to issue in….

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Limited’s shares rose the most in more than six months after Nigeria softened its stance over claims that Africa’s biggest wireless carrier illegally transferred $8.1 billion out of the country. The Central Bank of Nigeria made the accusation late last month, plunging the South African company into a crisis that’s wiped almost a third off its share price. MTN has since provided additional information that may lead…