The Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A unit of the South African Police Service said it’s started an investigation into an alleged cryptocurrency investment fraud that has affected more than 28,000 people and led to losses of more than 1 billion rand ($80.4 million). The allegations involve “BitCaw Trading Company, commonly known as BTC Global,” the police unit said in an emailed statement on Friday. “Members of the public are believed to have been targeted as part…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – For every rout, there’s a buyer — or a least that’s what it looks like now for some emerging-market money managers after a selloff erased most of this year’s gains. BlackRock Inc., Goldman Sachs Asset Management International and Payden & Rygel Investment Counsel say they’re betting on a rebound now that valuations have left some assets a lot cheaper than January. The price-to-earnings ratio of the MSCI Emerging Markets…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. will start selling more than a third of its Ghanaian unit for $754 million next week in an initial public offering that will be 10 times larger than the West African nation’s previous biggest-ever share sale, according to a person familiar with the matter. The offer to raise 3.48 billion cedis of stock will start May 29 and close at the end of July, said the person, asking not…

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambican lawmakers approved constitutional changes that give political parties more power in the provinces, a step that may support a peace deal cast into doubt by the death of the main opposition leader. President Filipe Nyusi signed an open-ended truce in 2016 with the Mozambican National Resistance, or Renamo, whose leader, Afonso Dhlakama, died on May 3. Renamo’s armed wing fought the government in a 16-year civil war that claimed as many…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – It’s been a miserable quarter so far for South African bonds, but the worst may be over. After a selloff that started in April and wiped out this year’s gains, yields on benchmark securities fell on Tuesday as Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene delivered good news on the country’s fiscal deficit. Rates may fall further, provided global factors that roiled emerging markets in recent weeks don’t worsen, according to Standard Bank…