Finance

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The U.K.’s top judges inflicted an unprecedented legal defeat on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, branding his controversial decision to suspend Parliament unlawful and calling on lawmakers to return to Parliament as soon as possible. The unanimous landmark decision by the 11 judges Tuesday is a boost for MPs seeking to prevent Johnson pulling the country out of the European Union by Oct. 31 without a deal. By limiting the prime…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Investors should be more concerned about the increasing prospects of Elizabeth Warren being the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee than any fallout from the scandal around Donald Trump’s phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, according to AGF Investments. The outrage surrounding allegations that Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, is unlikely to affect markets, Greg Valliere, the firm’s chief U.S. policy strategist, wrote in a…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bovis Homes Group Plc has restarted talks to buy Galliford Try Plc’s housing division after discussions earlier in the year broke down. The potential deal could see the Galliford’s housing business valued at 975 million pounds ($1.2 billion), plus 100 million pounds of debt, bringing the total valuation with debt to 1.075 billion pounds, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. More work is needed before the tie-up of Bovis and…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Interswitch, a Nigerian-based payments business, is in talks with potential anchor investors as it ramps up preparations for a potential London initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said. The company is planning to kick off the share sale as soon as November, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. An IPO could value the company at as much as $1.5 billion,…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s FMDQ Securities Exchange Plc is working on a plan to kick-start mortgages to boost trading on the nation’s capital markets. “The lack of housing finance is one of the reasons why our capital market has not grown as it should,” Chief Executive Officer Bola “Koko” Onadele said in an interview. “We should be talking of 30-year mortgages for Nigerians. If you want 70% of the people to own their own…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Old Mutual Ltd. directors barred Peter Moyo from resuming his duties as chief executive officer, opening a new round in their bitter feud. The 56-year-old, accompanied by his lawyer, arrived at the company’s headquarters by 8:30 a.m. dressed in a blue suit with a gray and white tie. He was gone before lunchtime, having spent most of the morning in a boardroom awaiting a decision on whether he would be allowed…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The dominance of Naspers Ltd. over the South African stock market is about to be reduced — partially at least. And that’s good news for a number of fund managers concerned about the tech giant’s weighting in the main local index. After Naspers lists its unit Prosus NV in Amsterdam on Sept. 11, the company will drop to about 15% of Johannesburg’s equities benchmark from a massive 21% currently, Peter Takaendesa, a…