Finance

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) — Tanzania asked Beijing for debt relief and signed a new multibillion-dollar railway deal during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s Africa tour. President John Magufuli asked for the cancellation of old debts totaling $167.7 million, according to the East African nation’s presidency. Earlier Friday, Tanzania signed a $1.32 billion rail-development contract with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corp. and China Railway Construction Corp. Several African nations are struggling to fund the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) Globeleq, a leading independent power generation company in Africa, has confirmed it will take a 74% majority equity stake in an existing Nigerian power business called CPGNL Limited (CPGNL), which will be rebranded as Globeleq Power Solutions Nigeria Limited. The current owner of the business, the Clean Energy Group, will retain the remaining 26% shares. CPGNL has a portfolio of assets that serve commercial and industrial customers mostly in the…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE offered to supply South Africa with their Covid-19 vaccine at a discounted $10 a dose, yet the president’s office still described the cost as prohibitive, according to a person familiar with the talks. The price was worked out according to South Africa’s status as a middle-income nation and is about half of what the drugmakers are charging in the U.S., the person said, asking not…

SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) — The U.S. will give a $1 billion bridge loan to the World Bank to help clear Sudan’s arrears with the institution, opening the door to much-needed funding for the economically ravaged African country, Sudan’s finance ministry said. The move is due “in the coming days” and will lead to Sudan regaining access to the World Bank’s International Development Association, the ministry said in statements to Bloomberg. The comments come…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Jumia Technologies AG is looking beyond an immediate target of generating a profit from its pioneering African e-commerce business, laying out longer-term plans to spin off divisions and enter new countries. The question of when the Berlin-based company will become profitable has hung over the group since a high-profile New York listing in 2019. And while Jumia has been careful in recent months not to set itself a deadline,…

CASABLANCA (Capital Markets in Africa) — Morocco returned to international capital markets with a record foreign bond offering to shore up finances battered by the coronavirus. The government’s $3 billion bond offering included dollar-denominated seven-, 12- and 30-year securities, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. The deal priced at 175 basis points over U.S. Treasuries for $750 million of the shortest-duration notes, 200 basis points for $1…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) — Egypt wants to get its local debt settled by Euroclear Bank SA in less than a year and introduce its first floating-rate bonds by mid-2021, part of a push to cut borrowing costs and stoke rebounding demand for its notes. A deal with Belgium-based Euroclear will mean a “safe gateway” to the market for “big-ticket investors such as central banks and increase demand and liquidity by expanding our investor…