The Markets | - Part 189

South Africa’s Shoprite looks beyond Africa to Eastern Europe

CAPE TOWN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa’s biggest grocery retailer Shoprite is considering a push into Eastern Europe, where it hopes to use knowledge gleaned from former suitor Steinhoff International, its new CEO told Reuters. The move signals a change in strategy for Shoprite under Chief Executive Pieter Engelbrecht, 47, as sovereign rating downgrades and a weak economy cloud prospects at home. It also leads it down a competitive path crowded with established retail giants…

South Africa’s bourse to review trades around Gordhan’s recall

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s bourse will investigate an increase in the trading of certain securities in the hours before former finance minister Pravin Gordhan was recalled from an international investor roadshow, BusinessDay newspaper reported on Monday. On March 27, news broke that President Jacob Zuma had ordered Gordhan to return immediately from a trip to Britain and the United States. Gordhan was later dismissed in a cabinet reshuffle. The newspaper reported…

South Africa’s President Zuma Sacked Finance Minister Gordan: Market Reactions

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African CEOs see severe consequences after the cabinet reshuffle. South African President Jacob Zuma’s decision to dismiss Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has severe consequences for the economy and is a setback to the work done to avoid a credit rating downgrade, a group of business leaders said on Friday. “This decision and the manner in which it was taken is likely to cause severe damage to an economy that is in dire need of growth…

Junk for South Africa as Fitch Joins S&P in Cut on Politics

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African debt got dealt a second blow in a week as Fitch Ratings Ltd. joined S&P Global Ratings and cut the nation’s credit assessment to junk following President Jacob Zuma’s move to fire a well-respected finance minister. Fitch reduced the foreign-currency rating to BB+, the highest non-investment grade and on par with Turkey and Portugal, four days after S&P reduced its assessment. The local-currency rating was also lowered one level to…

South Africa Stock Volumes Plunge as Protesters Rally Nationwide

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tens of thousands of protesters marched in South Africa to demand that President Jacob Zuma resigns after he fired the finance minister and reshuffled the cabinet. Marchers chanting “Zuma must go” in Pretoria, the capital, walked to the Union Buildings, the official seat of government, while thousands of people faced riot police outside the chained gates of parliament in Cape Town, and rallied in Durban and Port Elizabeth. In Johannesburg, eNCA…

Rand, Bonds Fall as South Africa Junk Rating Triggers Index Exit

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s rand and dollar bonds fell after Fitch Ratings Ltd. became the second company to cut the country’s credit assessment to junk, triggering sales by some investors tracking investment-grade debt indexes. JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it would remove South Africa from gauges tracked by $59 billion of funds. President Jacob Zuma plunged South Africa into a political crisis when he fired Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in a cabinet purge just after midnight on…

Ivory Coast to Receive IMF Budget Support as Cocoa Slumps

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast will receive additional assistance from the International Monetary Fund to support its 2017 budget after cocoa prices slumped, hurting the finances of the biggest grower of the crop. The IMF’s board will meet in June to decide on the amount of support, Dan Ghura, the Washington-based lender’s mission chief, told reporters late Wednesday in the commercial capital, Abidjan. The assistance will come as the IMF visited the West…

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