South Africa | - Part 16

Telkom Says Government Has Identified Potential Buyers of Stake

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Telkom SA SOC Ltd. executives have met with South African government officials to discuss plans to sell a 39 percent state-owned stake and were told that potential buyers have been identified. “They have communicated that they have identified a buyer or buyers to sell to,” Telkom Chief Executive Officer Sipho Maseko said in an interview in Pretoria on Friday. “The sale will most likely be done through a private placement.”…

South Africa Central Bank Has Little Policy Space to Boost Growth

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa has limited space for counter-cyclical monetary policy to support economic expansion because inflation risks have increased, central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. The balance of risks for growth in consumer prices is “on the upside,” with the rand weakening against the dollar, a higher oil price, and a chance that power prices will increase, he said in an interview Friday in New York with Bloomberg TV. The Monetary Policy…

Guptas Accuse Regulator of Urging Banks to Shut Their Accounts

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A group of companies linked to South Africa’s politically connected Gupta family said the country’s banking regulator encouraged lenders to shut their accounts, broadening a battle to retain the last of their banking services. The 20 businesses, which are suing Bank of Baroda’s local unit to keep their accounts open, have now included Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyagoand the Registrar of Banks Kuben Naidoo, whose office sits in the central…

Surviving on $3 an Ounce Has Lonmin in Race Against Time

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Every day, Lonmin Plc sends thousands of miners hundreds of meters below ground, where they use drills, diggers and explosives to extract about 40,000 metric tons of rock laden with precious metals. The ore is milled, crushed, concentrated, smelted and refined in a month-long process that eventually yields about 4,100 ounces of platinum-group metals each day. Yet for all its trouble, Lonmin’s revenue in the most recent quarter was barely $3 an ounce…

Truecaller Phone App Maker in Talks With Airtel About Africa

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Swedish phone-app developer True Software Scandinavia AB is in talks with wireless operators including Bharti Airtel Limited to expand its fast-growing Truecaller spam-filtering service in Africa. Truecaller is seeking to roll out a version of the app that works with 2G phones, Chief Commercial Officer Ted Nelson said in an interview in Cape Town on Wednesday. About 70 percent of cell users in Africa use so-called service phones — devices that…

Mining Lobby in Court Over South African Black-Ownership Rules

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s Chamber of Mines starts the first of its two-pronged legal fight over the country’s black-empowerment rules Thursday. The case will be heard in Pretoria over two days and pits the chamber, which represents producers including Anglo American Plc and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., against the Department of Mineral Resources. At stake is whether mining companies can claim to have met black-ownership requirements even after beneficiaries have sold their stakes in…

Ramaphosa’s Announcement of ANC Leadership Ticket Riles Backers

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JOPHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) Leaders of the ruling African National Congress in South Africa’s richest province said they oppose Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to announce a ticket of running mates in his bid to become the ANC’s next president, saying it has the potential to deepen divisions in the party. While ANC leaders in Gauteng province back Ramaphosa to replace President Jacob Zuma as ANC leader, they don’t support his announcement on Sunday of a…

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