Africa

Steinhoff International’s shares jolted downwards again today as it met its banks in London, seeking their support to get through the difficulties caused by apparent false accounting.

Moody’s published a cautious note on Tuesday in response to “business-friendly candidate” Cyril Ramaphosa’s slim victory in South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) presidential elections on Monday. But the agency acknowledged that, if implemented, Ramaphosa’s reform priorities could “begin to address the weaknesses flagged” when the agency put South Africa on review for downgrade.

Savannah Petroleum, the UK oil and gas company focusing on African exploration, has secured a partnership with ASMA Capital Partners, a Bahraini fund manager which invests on behalf of the Islamic Development Bank, as part of its equity capital raising, which is set to be priced today.

Africa Finance Corp, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution (DFI), has closed a $200m loan with five banks.

The travails of Steinhoff International, the embattled South African retail holding company, deepened today as Christo Wiese, the entrepreneur who has built up the business, resigned as chairman.

South Africa’s FirstRand Bank signed a syndicated loan with 21 banks on Thursday for $700m, $200m higher than its launch amount, despite South Africa’s recent rating downgrade, which also led to a downgrade for FirstRand.

Savannah Petroleum, the UK oil and gas company focusing on African exploration, has announced a range of 40p to 50p a share for a follow-on share placing to fund its acquisition of the Nigerian oil and gas assets of Seven Energy.

Nigeria is expected to become only the fourth sovereign globally — and the first in Africa — to issue green bonds, by selling a $30m-equivalent five year or longer naira government bond next week.

A group of senior managers at Dis-Chem Pharmacies, the South African pharmacy chain, have completed the first equity block trade in the stock since its R4.4bn ($304m) Johannesburg IPO in November 2016. The sale of a 3.7% stake was slightly increased.

Tullow Oil, the oil company headquartered in London but with operations predominantly in Africa, has signed $2.5bn of reserve-based lending (RBL) facilities to refinance existing deals with its relationship banks.

Equity investors initially responded positively this week to Steinhoff International’s fresh attempts to shore up its operations, helping the dual-listed retail company's share price rebound, before it dropped again on Thursday amid talk of possible legal action and calls for the board to resign.

South Africa’s distressed Steinhoff has moved its meeting with lenders from Monday to next Tuesday, following its revelation on accounting irregularities last week.