Category: INTERNATIONAL
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Tanzania’s central bank revokes licences of five banks
Tanzania’s central bank on Thursday revoked the licenses of five “critically undercapitalised” community banks to protect financial stability in East Africa’s No. 3 economy. There are about 40 commercial banks and a dozen community banks, which target savings from specific communities or sectors such as farming, but the financial sector is largely dominated by just…
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Zambia shuts three of Shoprite’s Hungry Lion restaurants
Zambia has shut three of South African retailer Shoprite’s Hungry Lion fast-food restaurants after their food tested positive for the bacterium that causes cholera, a government minister said on Thursday. Zambia is struggling to contain an outbreak of the disease, which has killed 51 people and made more than 2,000 others sick in the capital…
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Angola’s central bank’s new currency plan could see kwanza devaluing by 30% – economist
It was Angola’s depleting foreign reserves that prompted the central bank to pursue a more flexible exchange rate strategy, the regulator said. The comment came a day after plans were unveiled to restructure foreign debt and allow looser trading of the kwanza. The central bank said on Wednesday it would shift from a currency peg…
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Gas supply to Nigeria’s Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System restored
Nigeria has fully restored the supply of gas on a pipeline affected by a fire last week, a spokesman for the state oil company said on Monday. Gas supply to several power stations was cut off because of the fire on the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System near Okada in the southern state of Edo on Wednesday…
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East Africa: Chase Bank sale frees billions for companies
Companies that have deposits running into billions of shillings locked in the troubled Chase Bank are set for a major cash boost with the sale of the lender releasing up to 75 per cent of their money. Betting firm SportPesa, investment company Centum , State-owned Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA),…
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Kenya: Exotix says cement stocks overpriced
Kenyan cement stocks remain overpriced in comparison to African peers, with projected lower earnings for the 2017 financial year expected to put downside pressure on the stocks this year. A new cement sector report by UK-based investment bank Exotix partners says local producers are facing cost-side pressure on higher clinker cost due to rising coal…
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Exclusive: China’s Wanda mulls sport unit IPO and sale of overseas assets – sources
China’s Dalian Wanda Group is considering a Hong Kong listing for its sports assets as part of efforts to rationalize its portfolio that could also include other sales, according to five people familiar with the situation. The conglomerate last month tapped investment banks for a potential initial public offering of its sports businesses, three of…
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U.S. judge clears Takata to seek creditor vote on bankruptcy plan
The judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Takata Corp’s (TKTDQ.PK) U.S. unit on Wednesday cleared the way for the company’s creditors to vote on its Chapter 11 plan, which critics say limits the legal rights of those injured by its deadly airbags. Takata and its U.S. entity TK Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy in June after…
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Asian shares scale ten-year peak, oil elevated on Iran unrest
Asian shares vaulted to 10-year highs on Thursday as solid economic data from the United States and Germany reinforced investors’ optimism, while oil prices hovered at a 2-1/2-year high with unrest in Iran stoking supply disruption concerns. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.3 percent, extending its gains so far this…
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Spotify makes confidential filing for U.S. IPO: source
Music streaming service Spotify has filed confidentially with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering and is targeting a direct listing in the first half of 2018 that would allow some longtime investors to cash out, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. If Spotify, which was valued at as much as $19…