Nigeria plans to raise $300 mln via "diaspora bond" by June - bookrunner

Nigeria plans to raise $300 million by selling a diaspora bond targeting Nigerians living abroad, one of the book runners on the deal, First Bank told Reuters on Tuesday.The bond, which will have a maturity of five to seven years, is expected to be issued by June, the bank said.Nigeria has asked Goldman Sachs and Stanbic IBTC Bank, the local unit of South Africa's Standard Bank , to advise it on the sale of the maiden bond. It also appointed United Bank for Africa as one of the bookrunners on the deal.Nigeria is the world's fifth-biggest destination...

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South Africa's Post Office to register financial services unit as a bank

South Africa's Post Office Group plans to register its financial services unit as a bank by July 3, a document handed out in parliament showed, a move that would put the company in the middle of a fiercely competitive market.The restructuring of Postbank is part of the government strategy to provide a wider range of accessible, relevant and affordable financial services products to those without bank accounts and low-income earners.But it also leads...

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South Africa's Nando's denies stock market flotation report

South African fast-food chain Nando's, best known for its hot and spicy chicken meals, denied on Tuesday speculation it was considering a stock market flotation. Citing unidentified sources, Bloomberg reported on Monday that Nando's was weighing an initial public offering (IPO), possibly in London, to raise money for expansion. "The speculation about a Nando's IPO is incorrect, nor are they currently considering fundraising," the company said...

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Black market naira at 499 per dollar, 39 percent discount on Nigeria rate

Nigeria's naira was quoted as low as 499 to the dollar on the black market on Tuesday, 39 percent weaker than on the official market, where the central bank has been selling the greenback to support the local currency. On the official market, the naira was quoted at 305.25 on Tuesday, the level it has been trading at since last August. Traders said the dollar was fetching between 495 and 499 naira on the black market. It was quoted at 497 on the...

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Analysts weigh OPEC price boost against hit from U.S. shale

Oil markets are starting to tighten, prompting industry analysts to raise their 2017 price forecasts, but they remain cautious that rising U.S. production could offset any major price gains from OPEC'S output deal. Brent crude futures will average $58.01 a barrel in 2017, according to a Reuters poll of 31 analysts and economists. The current forecast is slightly higher than the $57.43 forecast in the previous survey. It is the second consecutive...

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Nigeria foreign reserves rise to highest level in 10 months- cenbank data

Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves rose 8.39 percent to $27.88 billion by Jan. 26 from a month ago, climbing to their highest level in 10 months, central bank data showed on Tuesday.Nigeria's dollar reserves have been rising this year to gain 6.9 percent so far. The central bank did not provide any reason for the recent rise, which may be attributed to the recent rise in global oil prices.However, official reserves are down 1.27 percent from the same period a year ago, when they stood at $28.24 billion, the data showed.© Reuters N...

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Nigeria asks Goldman, Stanbic to help sell debut "diaspora bond"

Nigeria has asked Goldman Sachs and the local unit of South Africa's Standard Bank to advise it on the sale of a debut "diaspora bond" targeted at Nigerians living abroad, Stanbic IBTC Bank said on Monday. Such bonds are a form of government debt that targets members of the national community abroad and Africa's biggest economy first announced plans to sell them in 2013 to raise between $100 million to $300 million.Goldman Sachs and Stanbic were...

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Nigeria's Med-View Airline shares go public on stock exchange

Nigeria's Medview Airline, one of Nigeria's flag carriers will be "Listed by Introduction" on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday, making the airline first to list its shares on the local bourse in a decade. The airline also appointed Kedari Capital Limited and Trustyields Securities Limited as financial advisers/issuing house and stockbrokers to it in respect of the Listing exercise. Med-View Airline, it was gathered, would be listing...

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Nigerian interbank rate eases on liquidity injection

Nigeria's interbank lending rate dropped 6.5 percentage points on Friday to 5 percent on average as the money market was awash with cash from budgetary disbursal and coupon payment on matured bonds, traders said.The cost of borrowing among commercial lenders closed at 11.5 percent last week due to drop in liquidity in the market necessitated by bond and treasury bills sales. Traders said around 400 billion naira was injected into the banking system...

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Ivory Coast cocoa buyers pay below guaranteed price amid bean glut

Cocoa buyers in top grower Ivory Coast are violating a government guaranteed minimum price for farmers as a build-up of bean stocks in warehouses and ports drives down demand, farmers and co-operative managers told Reuters.The low prices are also fuelling bean smuggling to neighbouring Ghana, the world's number two producer. The 2016/17 season in the world's top cocoa grower opened on Oct. 1 with the Coffee and Cocoa Council marketing board fixing...

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Italy arrests four suspected leaders of human trafficking and prostitution ring

Italian police on Wednesday arrested four men accused of being the leaders of a human trafficking ring which smuggled people from Africa to Europe and forced women into the sex trade upon arrival in Italy. Another two men were arrested on suspicion of financially supporting the network and selling illegal drugs. The group, which was headquartered in Padua in northern Italy, had accomplices in Nigeria, Libya and Sicily.Police said the network ran...

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Investors awaiting Nigeria's eurobond with kin interest despite economic woes

Investors are lining up to buy dollar bonds Nigeria is expected to issue soon despite the country's first recession in a quarter of a century, a currency crisis and budget shortfalls driven by low oil prices.On the face of it, the $1 billion of bonds Nigeria hopes to sell by the end of March might seem unattractive, especially at a time sentiment towards African debt has soured after Mozambique missed a coupon payment.  Adeosun, finmin But...

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Nigeria to sell dollars in special auction to clear backlogs of airlines, others

Nigeria's central bank has asked banks to bid in a special currency auction to clear a backlog of dollar obligations that businesses owe, traders said on Wednesday.The central bank asked commercial lenders to submit backlog dollar demand from fuel importers, airlines, raw-materials producers, and makers of agricultural chemicals and machinery for manufacturers by 1500 GMT.In a notice to commercial lenders, the central bank said it would hold a retail...

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Home-grown African wealth funds seeking foreign partners to fix infrastructure gap

Africa, famously short of new roads, ports and power stations, is increasingly leaning on its own sovereign investment funds to help fix its infrastructure gap.The funds - which have around $150 billion between them, according to research firm Preqin - are digging in themselves and offering co-investment opportunities and guarantees to attract foreign capital. The scale of the problem is huge - some 600 million Africans, or half the continent's...

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Ghana producer inflation falls sharply to 4.9 pct in December

Ghana's producer price inflation  fell sharply to 4.9 percent year-on-year in December, from 11.9 percent the month before, because of a big drop in the cost of utilities, the statistics office said on Wednesday. Inflation has been higher than government targets for years and the country is following a $918 million International Monetary Fund programme partly as a result. But economists say they expect inflation to fall sharply in the coming...

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General Electric proposes investing in Nigeria's ailing oil refineries

General Electric Co has proposed investing in Nigeria's oil refineries, potentially convening a consortium of companies to improve capacity at the run-down facilities.GE's plan and similar promises from companies like Italy's Eni to work with Nigeria to rehabilitate the country's three oil refineries could help the government as it tries to reduce costly imported oil products. The work was raised during a meeting with the Nigerian National Petroleum...

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Nigerian credit enhancement launched

A new credit enhancement facility has been launched by the government’s Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and GuarantCo, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group.The InfraCredit vehicle, led by Chinua Azubike, will provide guarantees to local currency debt, including corporate and state bonds, for infrastructure. Azuibike was previously managing director at Dunn Loren Merrifield Advisory Partners and local bank UBA.InfraCredit will be capitalised with up to US$200m paid-in equity and “second loss” contingent capital from...

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Nigeria opens discussion on concession of old rail lines

The Nigerian government has opened discussion with the General Electric (GE) and other companies on the planned concession of the old narrow gauge rail lines in the country, a top official said Tuesday.Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi said the government was currently negotiating with GE and other companies that had showed interest to take over Lagos-Kano and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge through concession.Amaechi had in 2016 expressed...

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Nigeria holds main interest rate at 14 percent

Nigeria's central bank held its benchmark interest rate at 14 percent for the third time in a row and signalled it will leave its currency exchange rate unchanged despite competition from the far cheaper black market. The economy is struggling with its first recession in 25 years due low oil prices. Inflation, meanwhile, accelerated to a more than 11-year high of 18.55 percent in December.Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele told reporters interest...

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South African reserve bank holds repo rate, warns of inflation risk

South Africa's central bank kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 7 percent on Tuesday, in line with expectations, saying the near-term outlook of inflation has deteriorated while the domestic growth outlook remained constrained. Jacob Zuma Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the near-term inflation outlook had worsened, and the growth outlook remained weak, but reiterated that the Monetary Policy Committee still held the view that it may be near...

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Africa Finance Corp issues $150 million debut sukuk

 Africa Finance Corp (AFC) said it issued a three-year $150 million sukuk, becoming the first African government-backed entity to sell an Islamic bond.The announcement confirmed a Reuters report this month that the bank would raise a dollar sukuk through a private sale.  AFC Andrew Alli AFC, a pan-African institution based in Nigeria, said it received subscriptions of $230 million for a debut sukuk initially planned to raise $100...

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Tanzania hopes for LNG plant agreement with oil majors by 2018

Tanzania hopes to reach an agreement with international oil companies in 2018 paving the way for the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, part of a bigger plan for a new export terminal, a senior official said on Tuesday. The planned new infrastructure will enable Tanzania to export some of the huge offshore gas reserves discovered in recent years in a region that has turned into a hydrocarbon exploration hotspot.BG Group - recently...

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Nigeria foreign reserves rise to highest level in 9 months- cenbank data

Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves rose 8.9 percent to $27.49 billion by Jan. 20 from a month ago, climbing to the highest level since April, central bank data showed on Tuesday. Kemi Adeosun, Finmin The reserves are down 3.17 percent from the same period in January 2016, however.The central bank did not provide any reason for the recent rise in reserves, although it may be due to the rise in global oil prices and in the OPEC member's production...

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Nigeria plans to raise 242 bln naira in treasury bills

Nigeria plans to raise around 242 billion naira ($772 million) in short-dated treasury bills at an auction on Feb. 1, the central bank said on Tuesday.The bank said it would raise 45.17 billion naira in three-month debt, 80 billion in six-month bills and 117.22 billion in one-year notes, using a Dutch auction system. Payment will be due the day after the auction. Sola Borha, Stanbic IBTC ceo Nigeria issues treasury bills to fund its budget deficit,...

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Nigeria interbank rate jumps on cash payments for bond purchases

Nigeria's interbank lending rate rose to close at 11.5 percent on Friday, up from 7 percent last week as payments for bond and treasury bills purchases drained liquidity from the money market, traders said.On Wednesday, Nigeria raised 214.95 billion naira ($704 mln) from local currency bonds at its first auction this year, with payment for the bonds due on Friday.  Bola Adesola, Ceo Nigeria's standard Chartered Bank Traders said the lending...

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OPEC chief sees oil stocks declining as cuts take effect

Oil stocks around the world need to decline by at least another 270 million barrels to reach a five-year industry average for OPEC to be able to say the markets are becoming balanced, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo told Reuters."The primary goal is to accelerate the stocks drawdown," Barkindo said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. "We are already seeing stocks coming down from the high levels. Our eyes will continue...

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