Kenya Airways Debt Swap May Give State a Controlling Stake

Kenya Airways Debt Swap May Give State a Controlling Stake

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s government agreed to swap loans it provided to Kenya Airways Ltd. for equity, a conversion that may give the state a controlling stake in the national carrier, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich said. The government will also guarantee 77 billion shillings ($745 million) of the airline’s debt to lessors and domestic banks, enabling Kenya Airways to extend its loan repayments to 10 years, Rotich told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Nairobi….

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Standard Bank Tightens Grip on Liberty After Row With CEO

Standard Bank Tightens Grip on Liberty After Row With CEO

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – History is repeating itself at the insurer controlled by Africa’s largest bank by assets. Standard Bank Group Limited on Tuesday announced that its head of investment banking will take over as chief executive officer of Liberty Holdings Limited in an effort to end the drag that the Johannesburg-based insurer is having on profit. The deployment of David Munro to the post comes after the abrupt departure of Thabo Dloti following a bust-up with his…

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Bharti Airtel Bets on Nigeria Broadband to Chase Down MTN

Bharti Airtel Bets on Nigeria Broadband to Chase Down MTN

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bharti Airtel Limited Nigeria unit said a partnership with China’s ZTE Corp. to provide 4G high-speed broadband will see it add subscribers and narrow the gap with market leader MTN Group Ltd. in Africa’s most populous country. The Indian company is seeking “to lead the industry in terms of new customer acquisition,” Chief Executive Officer Segun Ogunsanya said in an interview in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub. Airtel will start to move subscribers to…

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Mozambique Misses Latest Loan Payment as Restructuring Stalls

Mozambique Misses Latest Loan Payment as Restructuring Stalls

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – A state-run company in Mozambique skipped $134 million in payments on a government-guaranteed loan, the third time this year the southern African nation failed to meet its obligations as a standoff with creditors blocks debt restructuring talks. Mozambique Asset Management, one of three state-owned companies that took out undisclosed loans worth about $2 billion, failed to make the payment due May 23, Rogerio Nkomo, a spokesman for the Finance Ministry,…

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Growing Inclusive Insurance Markets: Emerging Trends and Supervision

Growing Inclusive Insurance Markets: Emerging Trends and Supervision

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Insurance softens the blows of misfortune. However, many low-income earners lack access to insurance and are thus deprived of the cushioning insurance provides although they are the ones in most need of insurance protection as they have little to fall on. For smallholder farmers, for example, besides the lack of access to insurance leaving them exposed to the varieties of the weather, it can also disincentives them from investing…

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Zambia Took On More Than $3 Billion in External Debt in 2016

Zambia Took On More Than $3 Billion in External Debt in 2016

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia committed to $3.5 billion of new loans last year, 56 percent more than in 2015, the Finance Ministry said. Of the $3.1 billion in loans the government of Africa’s second-biggest copper producer contracted in 2016, as opposed to just committing to, $1.8 billion came from Chinese lenders, the ministry said in its annual economic report for last year. Despite the new loans, the government’s external debt position increased by…

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South Africa Moves Firms to Mines Ministry for Accountability

South Africa Moves Firms to Mines Ministry for Accountability

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa will transfer the state-owned mining company and petroleum exploration-promotion agency, which report to a unit of the Energy Ministry, to the Department of Mineral Resources to improve accountability. Petroleum Agency of South Africa and African Exploration Mining & Finance Corp. will be moved to the department within the financial year ending Feb. 28, Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi told lawmakers in Cape Town Friday. They will be transferred from her department’s CEF…

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