According to sources well acquainted to the Ivorian banking world, MTN Cote d’Ivoire, subsidiary of the South African telecom giant is finalising a FCFA130 billion syndicated loan. The transaction was launched in March 2016, with local subsidiaries of Ecobank and Standard Chartered Bank leading it. The loan could have an interest rate of about 6% and mature over 7 years. At the end of 2015,...

Pan African Resources Plc, precious metals mining group active in South Africa, has completed the acquisition of the Uitkomst coal mine in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. The project was acquired for R150 million (working capital included) down from R200 million announced in June 2015. “We are pleased to have finalised the transaction and we welcome the Uitkomst colliery employees to the group....

The construction of Batoka hydro-power dam in Zambia will start next year and end in 2023. This was revealed by Samuel Undenge, Zimbabwean Minister of Energy. “The Batoka project is now on course and we have started carrying out feasibility studies which we expect to end in July this year. Between July and December we expect the project to go to tender,” he said addressing a Confederation...

Finally, it is the court which will solve the dispute opposing American giant Monsanto to the Inter-professional Cotton Association of Burkina (AICB) as talks for an amicable solution failed, according to the association. AICB claims Monsanto introduced the Bollgard II in Burkina Faso, genetically modified cotton that impaired the quality of local output on the international market due to...

African Development Bank (AfDB) said on April 4, it will triple its financial support to Mozambique from the year 2016-17 to $1.7 billion to help the Southern African country face commodities’ price slump. "We are planning to increase our level of financial support to Mozambique to $1.7 billion from the year 2016-17 “We are planning to increase our level of financial support to...

Kenya signed with France five funding agreements totaling close to €250 million ($284 million) including €180 million to go into power industry. 120 million are to be injected into the Last Mile Connectivity Program to electrify Kenya and 60 million to finance the Meru wind farm which has a capacity of 400 MW. Moreover, a partnership agreement was signed with French Development...

American Motor Company Ford announced, in a statement published on April 5, it will invest 2.5 billion rand ($170 million) to build a new plant in Pretoria as it aims to bring more models to sub Saharan Africa. “We will expand our activities at the South African Silverton assembly plant in Pretoria to produce our newest Ford Everest (Seven Seat SUV), as well as the new Ford Ranger launched at...

Boston, Massachusetts, April 2 –Today African businessman and philanthropist Tony O. Elumelu, delivered a keynote address at the 2016 annual Harvard International Development Conference (HIDC) in Harvard University, Boston. He went on after that to Columbia University in New York City to give a talk on Connecting Africa Through Internal Solutions for Development and Growth. This year’s event...

Businessmen from Saudi Arabia will invest $4 billion in various projects in Egypt, Vice President of Saudi Arabia-Egypt affairs council, Abdullah bin Mahfouz said on April 5. Cited by Reuters, Mr. bin Mahfouz indicated that the investments would be directed toward energy, agriculture, import-export, health and logistics sectors. “10% of the capital has been deposited in Egyptian...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) on Tuesday revealed that the current fuel scarcity in the northern part of the country will end in the next two weeks after the damaged pipelines delivering crude oil to Kaduna Refining and Petro-chemical Company (KRPC) has been renovated. According to the Group Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, upstream sector, NNPC, Alhaji Bello...