Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa is joining Qatar and the U.S. on the list of potential suppliers of liquefied natural gas to Germany’s first import terminal for the fuel. Talks are underway with African LNG producers to supply the planned German facility, as well as with Qatar, the world’s biggest producer, said Andree Stracke, chief commercial officer at RWE AG’s supply and trading unit. The German utility has agreed to take capacity in the proposed terminal…

JOHANNESBUG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Steinhoff International Holdings NV is assessing ways to attract extra funding for Mattress Firm to execute a turnaround of the troubled U.S. bedding retailer. Bought for $3.8 billion two years ago, Mattress Firm has emerged as a headache for Steinhoff as it strives to shore up liquidity following an accounting scandal. The 3,300-store chain expanded too aggressively, suffered from ineffective marketing and has been embroiled in a dispute with suppliers,…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa shared parts of a package of reforms to kickstart an economy that’s in recession with business and labor leaders last week. The measures, already adopted by the cabinet, will “secure confidence in sectors affected by regulatory uncertainty” and cover mining, telecommunications, tourism and transport, the presidency said in a emailed statement Sunday. It will “reprioritize government spending, within the existing fiscal framework, toward activities that will stimulate…

LAUNDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – A $5.7 billion spending spree is catching up with Puma Energy Holdings Ltd. The fuel station operator, whose biggest shareholder is commodities trader Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd, is struggling to increase profits after Angola’s new president froze pump prices this year, slashing Puma’s traditionally lucrative margins in the African country. The troubles in Angola are highlighting Puma’s weighty debt burden, incurred as it forked-out between 2012 and 2016 to buy and build fuel…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Escalating global trade tensions are giving Chinese fruit stalls a little more of an international flavor. Fruit distributor Sunmoon Food Co. is shipping navel oranges from Egypt, kiwis from Italy and apples from Poland into China for the first time ever. The produce will fill the gap created when the Asian nation slapped tariffs on U.S. fruit as part of the escalating trade war between the Xi Jinping and Donald Trump administrations. With turnover of…

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo plans to establish special economic zones for companies that manufacture goods from the country’s minerals, President Joseph Kabila said. “There is a need to create special economic zones for the final users of Congolese natural resources,” Kabila said at a conference Wednesday in the south-eastern city of Kolwezi. The area will allow producers of electric vehicles, smartphones and other goods to “install themselves in the DRC,”…