Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A tomato-paste factory owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, resumed production in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano after staying idle for more than two years over a supply disruption partly caused by a price dispute with farmers. The factory, with a capacity for 1,200 metric tons of tomato paste daily and targeted at meeting domestic demand, restarted production last week processing about 100 tons a day. It will ramp up…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in  Africa) – Nigeria may have about the best-performing Eurobonds in emerging markets this year, but the West African nation says it will prioritize borrowing from concessional lenders such as the World Bank and African Development Bank as it looks to rein in interest payments. “If you were to ask me if we’re going to issue Eurobonds this year, I’d say we’ll explore all the options,” Patience Oniha, head of the Debt Management…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. is cutting 4,000 megawatts from South Africa’s electricity grid on Thursday, giving consumers no respite even on a public holiday, as it continues rotating outages that seek to lower demand and avoid a collapse of the network. It’s the eighth day of blackouts that have disrupted business and sparked outrage in a country that’s home to the continent’s most-industrialized economy, posing a challenge for the ruling…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Moody’s Investors Service said investment in the water sector of Cape Town, the South African city hit by shortages in the past two years, will bolster its economic strength and support its credit profile. The coastal city plans to diversify its water supply and better manage demand to reduce the chances of future water restrictions, with about half of its $692 million borrowing during the next three years going…

SOUTH SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Sudan plans to increase oil production by more than a third this year as it reopens wells in the wake of a peace agreement to end a five-year conflict that disrupted output. The accord, signed in September, has contributed to a resumption of production at previously abandoned oil fields, the Petroleum Ministry said Wednesday in an emailed statement. The country is targeting pumping 200,000 barrels per day by…

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa’s richest woman secured a fresh mandate as board member of Angola’s biggest telecommunications company when shareholders met Tuesday to discuss corporate governance in the wake of legal action by one of the firm’s biggest investors. The meeting at Unitel SA, in which Isabel dos Santos owns 25 percent stake and has been chairwoman, came after an arbitration court ruled that Brazilian telecommunications company Oi SA was entitled to receive $654 million from other…

SOUTH SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Sudan’s oil production will increase by the end of the year as wells reopen in Africa’s youngest country following a truce to end a five-year war, the International Monetary Fund said. The government and rebel leaders signed a peace accord in September as they sought to end a war that had raged since 2013. The conflict more than halved the country’s oil production to about 120,000 barrels…