The Markets

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. shares jumped the most in almost three years after Africa’s biggest wireless carrier started a 15 billion-rand ($1.1 billion) disposal plan to shore up the balance sheet. The company agreed to sell its 53 percent stake in Botswana’s Mascom to Econet Global Ltd. for $300 million, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Thursday. Other businesses now on the market include e-commerce services, which includes Nigerian online retailer…

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambique’s Eurobonds have taken a turn for the worse. After ending 2018 as the biggest gainers among more than 70 countries in the Bloomberg Barclays Emerging Markets USD Sovereign Bond Index, they’re at the bottom so far this year. The $727 million of securities due in 2023 have lost 6.9 percent in price terms, which compares with the average return in emerging markets of 3.3 percent. The bonds have been in default…

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambique will continue with restructuring talks over $2 billion of defaulted loans, the Ministry of Finance said, even as an international scandal around the debt intensifies. The $2 billion comprises three loans, one of which was converted into a eurobond, and another two that are guaranteed by the state. Mozambique in November announced an agreement in principal with investors to restructure its $727 million eurobonds that would see debt-holders…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Libya’s biggest oil field resumed production, adding another complication to OPEC’s effort to trim a global supply glut. Sharara resumed production and is expected to reach 80,000 barrels in one day, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. Regular output will be fully restored in the coming days, now that the site has been re-secured…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe’s central bank will provide 15 percent of the foreign exchange it has available to investors seeking to repatriate proceeds from share sales and dividends. The allocation is the latest step by the authorities to overhaul its monetary system after a lack of foreign currency caused shortages of basic commodities and spawned the highest inflation rate in a decade. The government last month scrapped a quasi-currency known as bond…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa)  – Commodity investors will navigate a powerful array of events this week that’ll shed light on the most pressing topics of the moment: will there be a trade deal between the U.S. and China; what’s next in energy, including priorities for behemoths Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp.; and how is the outlook shaping up in global agricultural markets this year? In China, leaders gather in Beijing to detail priorities for the year as…

ABDJIAN (Capital Markets in Africa) –  Cheap valuations on West Africa’s regional stock exchange are tipped to improve its attractiveness as strength in two of the continent’s fastest-growing economies helps spur a rebound from a record slump last year. Stocks traded on the Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres — an exchange covering seven Francophone countries and Guinea-Bissau — could be among Africa’s best performers in 2019, said Aly-Khan Satchu, chief executive officer of Nairobi-based Rich Management…