South Africa

Investec plc, the South African bank’s UK branch, has signed a loan for $450m — growing to more than double its launch amount of $200m after being three times subscribed.

Steinhoff International has sold a second chunk of its stake in PSG Group, the South African financial services company, in as many months, as Steinhoff struggles to stabilise itself after its disastrous revelation that three years' accounts will need restating.

Investec Bank plc, the South African bank’s UK branch, is expected to sign a loan to refinance a $300m facility signed in 2015.

Two large South African corporates are due to refinance some loans in the coming weeks, according to bankers close to the deals, who expect activity in the country to be high this quarter.

South African telecommunications company MTN Group is holding a non-deal roadshow in Taipei this month.

Steinhoff International, the retail conglomerate listed in Johannesburg and Frankfurt, said on Tuesday that its numbers for 2015 were unreliable and that prior years may also need to be restated.

How the Schuldschein market reacts when a borrower has payment difficulties has been a perennial question since the instrument reached a global audience. The revelations about possible false accounting at Steinhoff are likely to prove one of the market's biggest tests yet.

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.

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.

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.