South Africa | - Part 64

Eskom May Use $11 Billion Cash It Forecasts on South Africa Nuclear

JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa’s state-owned electricity utility forecasts it will have more than 150 billion rand ($11 billion) in 10 years’ time, money it could use to fund the country’s proposed plan to build nuclear power plants. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s stronger financial and operating performance will continue improving, culminating in the excess cash resources by the 10th year of the company’s 2016-17 operating plan, Group Generation Executive Matshela Koko wrote in an…

Bain Exit Leaves Edcon Struggling in South Africa Retail Slump

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: Bain Capital Partners LLC’s decision to walk away from Edcon Holdings Ltd. leaves South Africa’s largest clothing retailer to claw back market share amid weak consumer confidence and a market recently populated by international heavyweights like Hennes & Mauritz AB. The owner of the Edgars, Jet and CNA chains needs to make up ground ceded while struggling under a debt burden caused by Bain’s 25 billion rand ($1.8 billion) purchase in 2007. Competitors…

Anglo American Hires Fortescue’s Debt Slashing Finance Chief

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: Anglo American Plc has picked a debt-cutting specialist as the embattled miner seeks to further reduce its borrowings. It named Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.’s Stephen Pearce its new finance director after he led the drive to slash debt at the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer. Pearce will join Anglo in January and take up his new post on April 24, the producer said Friday in a statement. The 52-year-old has been chief financial officer of…

South Africa’s Rand Shows a Little Local Strife Can’t Derail Emerging Gains

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: For evidence that fundamentals hardly matter in today’s world of easy money, look no further than the rand. In a quarter marked by a political feud between South Africa’s president and his finance minister, stagnant growth and mounting concern that the country may lose its investment-level credit status, the rand returned 11 percent for investors selling the dollar to chase higher yields — more than twice as much as its next-best peer….

South Africa’s Central Bank Signals Possible End to Hiking Cycle

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa’s Reserve Bank left interest rates unchanged for a third straight meeting as it signaled it may be close to the end of its policy-tightening cycle. The central bank kept the benchmark repurchase rate at 7 percent, Governor Lesetja Kganyago told reporters Thursday in the capital, Pretoria. This was in line with the forecasts of all 27 economists in a Bloomberg survey. “The MPC is of the view that should current forecasts transpire,…

South African Rating Cut a Serious Risk, De Beers CEO Says

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa is in deep danger of losing its investment-grade credit rating and needs to reassure investors of its commitment to regulatory certainty and fiscal stability, said Bruce Cleaver, the chief executive officer of De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer. “South Africa is in a slightly difficult place right now,” Cleaver said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in New York on Wednesday. “I think the threat of…

Gold Digger Turns Alchemist Chasing Billions Hidden in Waste

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: With gold output in South Africa mired in a multiyear decline, the country’s biggest producer is turning to an overlooked and potentially cheaper source of supply: the dump. About 6.5 million ounces valued at $8.5 billion is buried inside mammoth mounds of discarded mine waste at sites owned by Sibanye Gold Ltd. They’re leftovers from more than five decades of excavation west of Johannesburg. But there’s a catch. The traces are so small that…

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