Private Equity

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African-based private equity firm Harith General Partners Pty Ltd. is buying into a fiber-optic cable network in Malawi as it invests more than $1 billion in infrastructure on the continent. Harith has put almost $800 million to work in African infrastructure so far, a third of that in telecoms, company director Emile Du Toit said by phone. The latest investment will make it the majority shareholder in Malawi’s biggest fiber…

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Societe Miniere de Bisunzu Sarl, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s biggest coltan miner, resumed purchases of the ore after a three-month shutdown at one of the country’s largest deposits. Output restarted at SMB’s mining permit, comprising seven sites at Rubaya in east Congo, on Aug. 14 and the company began buying the minerals extracted by artisanal diggers on Tuesday, Freddy Nzonga, the company’s director of traceability, said by phone….

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Discovery Ltd. is on track to start a South African bank by the end of this year after agreeing to buy FirstRand Ltd.’s stake in a credit-card venture, a transaction which had delayed the lender’s launch. Johannesburg-based Discovery is joining a rush into South African retail banking by a range of entrants spanning from insurer Old Mutual Limited. to local banking-veteran Michael Jordaan, who is looking to start a digital-only offering. The country’s largest medical-insurance…

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Millicom International Cellular SA’s Tanzanian unit is targeting an initial public offering “in the near future” after a court ruled in the company’s favour in an ownership dispute, Managing Director Simon Karikari said. Tanzania’s Appeal Court ruled in July that Luxembourg-based Millicom was Tigo Tanzania’s rightful owner, dismissing a case by Geneva-based Golden Globe International Services Ltd. and Quality Group Ltd. of Tanzania that laid claim to…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. said it’s secured about 48.8 billion rand ($3.4 billion) of the funding the state-owned South African power utility requires for the financial year ending March 31. Of the remaining 23.2 billion rand, or 32 percent of the total, 15 billion rand will come from structured products, Eskom said in a statement on Tuesday. A further 4.5 billion rand will come from domestic bonds, including 2.3 billion rand with…