Banks Batten Down in Mozambique as Bond-Coupon Payment Looms

Banks Batten Down in Mozambique as Bond-Coupon Payment Looms

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa’s largest banks are ensuring they protect themselves and their clients from the potential fallout if Mozambique defaults on its government debt next week. Standard Bank Group Ltd., the continent’s biggest lender by assets, is holding liquidity in excess of regulatory requirements in its Mozambique unit “to cater for funding withdrawals during periods of stress,” said Finance Director Arno Daehnke. FirstRand Ltd.’s consumer-banking business, First National Bank, is holding all of…

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Nigeria to Partner Schlumberger on Chad Basin Oil Exploration

Nigeria to Partner Schlumberger on Chad Basin Oil Exploration

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s state oil explorer said it’s on the verge of a deal with Schlumberger Ltd. to help in its search for commercial deposits in inland basins away from the restive Niger River delta region. Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. and the world’s largest oil-services provider will carry out joint exploration and risk assessment studies in the frontier basins, including the Chad basin, Babatunde Adeniran, chief operating officer in charge of ventures, said…

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China Pledges $40 Billion towards Nigerian infrastructure projects

China Pledges $40 Billion towards Nigerian infrastructure projects

 LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria ordered Taiwan to move its trade mission from the capital, Abuja, to the commercial hub, Lagos, following a visit by the Chinese foreign minister during which his government pledged to invest $40 billion in infrastructure in Africa’s most populous country. Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama announced the move Wednesday after meeting with Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said. China has said it will invest $40…

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Africa Finance Corp plans maiden sukuk soon

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa Finance Corp (AFC), a pan-African multilateral institution based in Nigeria, is likely to make a debut U.S. dollar sukuk issue by early February, banking sources close to the deal said on Wednesday. If AFC makes a final decision to go ahead with the proposed debt sale over coming days, the sukuk will be issued in two or three weeks through a private sale, a banking source familiar with the…

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Marriott International Expands Presence in Algeria with Opening of Sheraton Annaba

Marriott International Expands Presence in Algeria with Opening of Sheraton Annaba

ALGIERS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Marriott International, Inc, today announced further expansion in Algeria with the opening of its seventh hotel in Algeria, Sheraton Annaba. The company already operates six hotels in Algeria including Constantine Marriott Hotel, Renaissance Tlemcen Hotel, Sheraton Club des Pins, Sheraton Oran, Le Meridien Oran and Four Points by Sheraton Oran amounting to 1580 rooms. With another six hotels under development, the company is set to double its footprint in…

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Marcopolo Eyes Africa and Middle East to Increase Exports by 50%

Marcopolo Eyes Africa and Middle East to Increase Exports by 50%

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bus maker Marcopolo SA is using Brazil’s rough roads as a calling card to enter markets as remote as Ghana and Cameron as it tries to shield its business from a recession at home. The company started exporting to 12 new countries in the past year and now ships to 40 markets worldwide, according to Ricardo Portolan, the exports manager at the Caxias do Sul-based company. That helped put it on…

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Nigeria to Start Building Railway to Decades-Delayed Steel Plant

Nigeria to Start Building Railway to Decades-Delayed Steel Plant

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria plans to start construction this month of a railway linking its decades-delayed Ajaokuta steel plant to iron-ore mines and a port, as the government accelerates efforts to reduce the economy’s reliance on oil. Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, which won a contract in 2009 to build a 275-kilometer (171-mile) rail line, “should start work very soon, and completion is expected in about two years,” Ministry of Transport Permanent Secretary Sabiu Zakari said in an interview…

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