The Markets

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – The manager of some of the largest investment funds in Canada is favoring European and Asian stocks over North American. Sarah Riopelle, senior portfolio manager at RBC Global Asset Management Inc., boosted her equity allocation by 2 percentage points to 59% over the past month as she shifts her focus to markets outside of the U.S. and Canada.  “Valuations are very cheap, reasonable within Europe and fundamentals seem…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Charles Schwab Corp. agreed to buy TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. for about $26 billion in a deal that will reshape the retail brokerage business. TD Ameritrade stockholders will receive 1.0837 Schwab shares for each TD Ameritrade share, the companies said in a statement Monday. That’s a 17% premium based on the average share price as of the close on Nov. 20. Announcement of the deal comes after news of an acquisition broke on…

RABAT (Capital Markers in Africa) – Morocco is targeting its lowest euro-borrowing costs ever as it returns to international debt markets for the first time in five years, taking advantage of robust investor demand for securities denominated in euro. The north African nation is marketing 12-year euro-denominated bonds with a yield in the 1.8% area, according to a person familiar with the transaction who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markers in Africa) – A holding company’s multi-billion dollar proposal to distribute its shares in Africa’s most valuable bank may spur other similar deals as pressure from investors to unlock value gathers pace, money managers said. RMB Holdings Ltd. said Tuesday it plans to distribute its 34% stake in FirstRand Ltd., valued at 130 billion rand ($8.8 billion), to shareholders as part of a reorganization leading to an eventual delisting. Billionaire Johann Rupert’s Remgro Ltd.,…

JOHANNESBURG(Capital Markers in Africa) – A rapid growth in assets at Investec Plc’s money-management arm is coming just as the South African and U.K. company prepares to split the unit from the bank, providing a potential valuation uplift before trading its shares separately. The money manager, which will be named Ninety One when it lists early next year, boosted assets by 3.2 billion pounds ($4.15 billion) in the six months through September, while operating profit rose by…

JOHANNESBURG(Capital Markers in Africa) – Old Mutual Ltd. is in the spotlight again for all the wrong reasons. The 174-year-old insurer was forced to apologize after a grieving family brought a corpse to one of its branches so the company would process a claim for funeral payments. The episode comes as a public spat with the company’s fired chief executive officer drags on. “We are deeply sorry for the delay,” Old Mutual said in a statement…

NEW WORK(Capital Markers in Africa) – Pricing a bond that never matures is one of the more straightforward tasks in all of finance. Divide the annual interest rate by its prevailing yield and — voilà — price. But if negative interest rates are really here to stay, well then, things could get crazy real quick. That, at least, is the conclusion of former Long-Term Capital Management co-founder Victor Haghani. In a report published by his current firm, ElmPartners, Haghani and his…