Cairn Energy Signals Possible Sale of Senegal Oil-Field Stake

Cairn Energy Signals Possible Sale of Senegal Oil-Field Stake

DAKAR (Capital Markets in Africa) – Cairn Energy Plc signalled it may sell a stake in a Senegalese oil field, cashing in on one of the largest recent discoveries off West Africa. Once the project development plan is approved this year and an investment decision made, Cairn will have “options in respect to potential farm-downs,” Chief Executive Officer Simon Thomson said Tuesday. Selling an interest in the field — called SNE — would allow the U.K. exploration company…

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Desert Sun to Power Upper Egypt With $2.8 Billion Solar Park

Desert Sun to Power Upper Egypt With $2.8 Billion Solar Park

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt on Tuesday inaugurated the first solar power plant at a remote desert complex where the government plans to generate as much as 1.8 giga watts from the sun, cutting the most populous Arab nation’s reliance on dirty and expensive fossil fuels. The plant, developed by Germany-based Ib Vogt GmbH and a local company called Infinity Solar Systems, began supplying the national grid in December, Ib Vogt Chief Executive Officer Anton Milner…

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South Africa Sees Receptive Market for $3 Billion Bond Sale

South Africa Sees Receptive Market for $3 Billion Bond Sale

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa plans to tap international markets for as much as $3 billion as the country seeks to take advantage of relatively low rates and strong demand from yield-hungry investors. “We will be coming shortly and taking advantage of the favourable market conditions,” Tshepiso Moahloli, chief director of liability management at the National Treasury, told reporters in London after meetings with investors. “The market is conducive and we’re keen to…

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Sanlam Scours Africa for More Deals After Biggest Purchase

Sanlam Scours Africa for More Deals After Biggest Purchase

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Fresh from sealing its biggest ever deal, Sanlam Ltd. is still scouring Africa for more acquisitions to extend its lead as the continent’s largest financial-services company outside of banking. The Cape Town-based insurer will spend $1.1 billion to take full control of Morocco’s Saham Finances SA, bringing its total investment in the firm to almost $1.7 billion since February 2016. The deal will give Sanlam access to Saham’s 26 markets across…

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MTN Casts Eye Over Empire as Carrier Mulls Over Where to Chop

MTN Casts Eye Over Empire as Carrier Mulls Over Where to Chop

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company is doing a spring clean of its empire. MTN Group Ltd. said Thursday it’s conducting a review to decide whether it really needs to be in all 22 of its markets across Africa and the Middle East. Some of them are tiny, others are war-torn while still more have regulators desperate to curb the Johannesburg-based company’s perceived dominance. Here are a few countries where MTN is…

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Exxon Punished for Departing From Big Oil’s Austerity Hymnal

Exxon Punished for Departing From Big Oil’s Austerity Hymnal

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Exxon Mobil Corp. is ramping up capital spending even as the rest of Big Oil preaches prudence. Investors punished the outlier. The world’s biggest publicly-traded oil company by market value unveiled an aggressive revamp of its upstream portfolio on Wednesday, lifting cash outlays by at least 25 percent to more than $30 billion a year in the early 2020s. That’s in stark contrast to rivals such as Chevron Corp. which…

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Aspen CEO Sees China Overtaking South Africa as Biggest Market

Aspen CEO Sees China Overtaking South Africa as Biggest Market

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. sees China eventually overtaking South Africa as its biggest market as the company completes its transition to a global therapeutics business from an Africa-focused generic-drugs maker. The business sells medicines in more than 150 countries and is looking for partners as it expands in China, the Middle East and the U.S. The infant-milk formula market is just one area that represents a good opportunity in Asia’s…

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