The Markets | - Part 144

South Africa Power Price to Rise 5.2%, Less Than Eskom Asked

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s energy regulator gave the state-owned power utility permission to raise its prices by an average of 5.2 percent from April 1, three quarters less than what the cash-strapped company had asked for. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which generates almost all of the nation’s electricity, had asked the National Energy Regulator of South Africa to allow it to increase tariffs by an average of 20 percent. Nersa Chairman Jacob…

Shoprite Deal Unravels as Billionaire Scurries to Save Steinhoff

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The spectacular collapse in the share price of Steinhoff International Holdings NV is hindering Christo Wiese’s plans to pool his African retail assets. The South African billionaire has had to pull out of a deal that will give Steinhoff Africa Retail Ltd. a 23.1 percent stake and a 50.6 percent voting interest in Shoprite Holdings Ltd., the continent’s largest grocery chain. Steinhoff Africa Retail, or STAR, is now in talks with the manager of…

Oil Deal May Win Back Sudan Some Influence Over Former Enemy

Posted on by The Editorial Team

KHARTOUM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sudan lost three-quarters of its oil reserves when the south seceded in 2011. A four-year civil war in Africa’s youngest nation may be letting it reassert control. Electricity, building materials, safe lodgings for workers — South Sudan’s former ruler is offering them all to help restore output in a key northern region. That shows how vital sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest oil reserves remain to Sudan, whose landlocked neighbour pays it $25…

The Hot Spots That Defined a Year of Emerging-Market Ebullience

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – 2017 is set to go down as the year when easy monetary policy and budding global growth came together to deliver blockbuster returns for the world’s emerging markets. Currencies and stocks in developing economies are on track for their biggest rallies in eight years as even the riskiest markets shrug off crises and threats to deliver gains for investors. Bonds, too, have had a good run, with local-currency emerging-market debt returning the most since…

Bitcoin Is the Most Perfect Bubble Possible

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – What else would you call something that, as of Tuesday morning, has gone up 47 percent the past week, 181 percent the past month, and 2,119 percent the past year? Not to mention the most remarkable part of this all: It has happened for no discernible reason. People haven’t started to actually, you know, use bitcoins much more than they did a year ago, but that hasn’t stopped its…

Bitcoin Shorts Are Hard to Find, Keeping Futures Above Spot

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – For traders used to seeing arbitrage plays vanish within seconds, bitcoin futures’ rise back to more than $1,300 above the spot price a full day after their debut is another testament to the cryptocurrency’s unconventional evolution. Professional investors and analysts predict the premium will collapse over time. Yet its persistence and volatility — from as low as 1.8 percent to as high as 13 percent — indicate how a market that’s captured Wall Street’s…

Top Frontier Bond Manager Sees Best Value in Local Debt

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – One of the most successful money managers in the world’s riskiest markets piled into local-currency debt this year, and plans to stick with the bet for 2018. Kevin Daly, who runs Aberdeen Asset Management Plc’s $125 million frontier-markets bond fund, outperformed 99 percent of peers this year as he doubled investments in domestic government notes. Now almost a third of his holdings are non-dollar assets, including local securities from Egypt, Mongolia,…

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