African Roses Are U.S.-Bound as Ethiopian Growers Go Global

African Roses Are U.S.-Bound as Ethiopian Growers Go Global

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ethiopia’s burgeoning flower-growing industry is setting its sights on the U.S. in a bid to break the dominance of Latin American producers in supplying roses and other blooms to the world’s largest economy. State-owned Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise is evaluating freighter flights through Miami — the main entry point for U.S. flower imports — Los Angeles or New York, regional manager Girum Abebe said in an interview. The company currently transports…

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Steinhoff Losing Credit Lines as Accounting Scandal Deepens

Steinhoff Losing Credit Lines as Accounting Scandal Deepens

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Embattled retailer Steinhoff International Holdings NV said lenders are starting to cut off support after an accounting scandal swept out its leaders and destroyed most of its value in a matter of days. The owner of Conforama in France, Mattress Firm in the U.S. and Poundland in the U.K. isn’t yet able to assess the magnitude of financial irregularities disclosed two weeks ago, it said in a presentation to lenders in London on…

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Glencore Will Double Dividend, Restart Zinc as Metals Rally

Glencore Will Double Dividend, Restart Zinc as Metals Rally

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Glencore Plc promised to double its dividend, restart some zinc production and boost spending as the world’s largest commodity trader reaps rewards from soaring metals prices. The slate of news from Glencore’s investor presentation on Tuesday shows the mining company is firing on all cylinders, with profitable zinc, cobalt and copper mines around the world. The growth has been aided by a powerful trading business that’s on track for its second-best…

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Angola Too Small for Four Phone Operators, Dos Santos Says

Angola Too Small for Four Phone Operators, Dos Santos Says

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Angola’s plan to allow a fourth telecommunications company to enter the market will make life tougher for existing operators and probably lead to consolidation, according to Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman and a shareholder of local wireless carrier Unitel SA. “Four licences in a 24-million-people market is a non-sustainable scenario,” Dos Santos, the former Angolan president’s oldest daughter, said in an interview during a conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm…

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Teetering Steinhoff Prepares to Shop Around Its Retail Assets

Teetering Steinhoff Prepares to Shop Around Its Retail Assets

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Steinhoff International Holdings NV, which sells $89 mattresses to Americans and two-for-a-pound cans of tomato soup to the British, faces a potential fire sale of its global retail holdings as it battles for survival. After a week in which its shares collapsed and its bonds were downgraded to junk amid an accounting scandal that prompted Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste to quit, the owner of U.S. furniture chain Mattress Firm…

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Ghana Seeks Investors for $2.4 Billion Railway and Inland Port

Ghana Seeks Investors for $2.4 Billion Railway and Inland Port

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana is looking for private investors to build a $2.4 billion railway line and inland port project that will ease the transportation of goods to and from the West African nation’s northern neighbors. The railway line from Tema, Ghana’s biggest harbor, to the second-biggest city of Kumasi will cost $1.8 billion, while the stalled Boankra inland port will need $600 million to be revived, Transport Minister Kweku Ofori Asiamah said…

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Nigeria Refining Push Prompts $3.6 Billion Petrolex Plan

Nigeria Refining Push Prompts $3.6 Billion Petrolex Plan

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is set to get another new oil refinery as a government push to end fuel imports attracts investors to the industry. Petrolex Oil & Gas Ltd. plans to build a $3.6 billion plant with a capacity of 250,000 barrels a day, Chief Executive Officer Segun Adebutu said in an interview in Lagos. The closely held company is working on the “front-end engineering design” and will complete construction in 2021, he said….

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