Finance

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia may be better known for mining copper than crypto, but a group of young entrepreneurs are looking to reinvent the country as an African technology hub — with support from Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin. Startup founders from the southern African country and abroad are talking to the government about creating the regulatory and business environment that would attract more tech firms and capital. The group is in the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria plans to become a net exporter of fertilizer after commissioning the world’s second-biggest urea plant. The 3 million-ton facility near Lagos, the commercial hub, adds to existing output of 3.1 million tons in the West African nation, according to the central bank. The biggest plant of its kind in Africa, owned by billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote, is already shipping to the U.S., India, and Brazil. “This fertilizer plant is…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Warren Buffett is telegraphing his disdain for Wall Street bankers with an oddball price on his latest multibillion-dollar takeover. The $848.02 for every share that Alleghany Corp. stockholders get from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is the result of Buffett balking at the banking fee being set aside by the target company — in this case for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is advising the insurer. Berkshire had offered to pay $850 a share with…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt plans to raise the equivalent of about $500 million with its first yen bonds, according to an official, as the government seeks to diversify funding for the economy that’s under pressure from the war in Ukraine and soaring commodity prices. The government is issuing the yen-denominated five-year debt in a private placement that will probably be completed Thursday, the head of the finance ministry’s debt management unit, Mohamed…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s state power company is planning to propose that some of the funding the country secured to help tackle climate change take the form of loans to the government that could be converted to equity in the utility when needed. The arrangement would enable Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. to access the $8.5 billion pledged by the U.S., U.K., Germany, France and the European Union without adding to its debt burden,…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – An Abu Dhabi wealth fund agreed with Egypt to invest about $2 billion by buying state-held stakes in some companies, including the North African nation’s largest listed bank, according to people familiar with the deal. Part of the agreement with ADQ involves it buying about 18% of Commercial International Bank, said the people who asked not to be identified as the talks are confidential. Along with the CIB portion, which…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Dangote Cement Plc, Africa’s largest producer of the building material, will invest $500 million over the next three to five years to expand production capacity in countries with increasing demand. “We are now focused on the next capital expansion cycle, which includes building grinding plants across West and Central Africa,” Chief Executive Officer Michel Puchercos, said during an investor call on Tuesday. “We are considering increasing capacity in countries with…