The board of directors of the Bourse de Tunis announced on December 9 that it has approved the listing of Meubles Intérieurs. The operation will see the sale of 1.52 million existing shares, thus 36.1% of the firm’s social capital. It will be arranged by Mena Capital Partners. Founded in 1984, Meubles Intérieurs is Tunisia’s leader of office furniture.

Following the beginning of work on Senergy, West Africa's largest solar power plant, last May, Proparco has stepped in again with a loan of €18.4 million to finance the construction and operation of a second 30 MWc photovoltaic plant in Senegal. Proparco will also act as arranger for this operation. Leveraging and duplicating expertise The "Senergy" solar power plant launched in May...

Africa’s largest bank by assets, Standard Bank, acquired a majority stake in the fintech company Firepay, for an undisclosed amount. In 2014, Firepay, barely a year old, developed a solution to help Standard Bank’s customers pay their bills, goods and service via mobile. “We are excited about working more closely with the Firepay team and think that there is an excellent strategic fit...

The US finance development agency, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), injected $200 million, equally, in Apis Growth Fund II and Helios Credit Partner, two investment funds who have numerous assets in Africa. Apis Growth Fund will use $100 million it received to implement its strategy which aims to invest in financial inclusion methods. It plans in this framework to help...

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers during the weekend agreed to their first deal since 2001 to cut oil output together and ease a global oversupply. With the agreement signed at last after over two years of low prices that strained many budgets and impelled unrest in some countries, the market will now shift focus to compliance with the...

In Uganda, the commissioner equity and rights, ministry of gender labour and social development, Bernard Mujuni, announced a few days ago that a Bill to protect the rights of women and minority groups on land acquisition was under study. The announcement is quite understable as only 6% of registered and titled land belong to women. Mr. Mujuni who was speaking at a regional minority and...

Tunisia will need 8.5 billion dinars ($3.71 billion) of external loans in 2017, thus a billion dollar more than it initially planned for in its finance bill, due to higher expenditures and lower fiscal revenues, said Minister of Finance, Lamia Zribi, on December 8. “We could need as much as 8.5 billion dinars of external loans,” the official said during the review of the 2017 finance bill....

Mali’s minister of land affairs, Mohamed Ali Bathily, impressed by the speech of the Congolese delegation at the World Cadastre Summit held last year in Istanbul, Turkey, met on December 7, Congo’s Prime Minister, Clement Mouamba, in the framework of a knowledge-sharing session. A wise decision given that a land reform process is currently ongoing in Bamako, Mali’s capital. “In its...

Tanzanian President, John Magufuli (photo), has announced that the country and Nigeria's Dangote Cement have strike a deal on the supply of natural gas to the latter's manufacturing plant. The President after meeting the company’s chairman, Aliko Dangote, accused unnamed middlemen of meddling with supply plans and said the issue has now been resolved and gas supplies will be sold at a...

South Sudan has begun talks with India regarding the revival of oil blocks, which were closed during the civil war in 2013. South Sudan during initial discussions between the government representatives of the two countries, compensated ONGC Videsh, for the period that the blocks were closed. According to Indian government officials, major areas regarding current law and order situations in...