South Africa

Sibanye Gold, the South African gold producer, confirmed a surfeit of lending demand at bank meetings on Thursday as it wrapped up final commitments for loans backing its acquisition of US palladium miner Stillwater.

Shares in Life Healthcare Group Holdings, one of South Africa’s largest private hospital operators, closed 2.5% higher on Monday after it said late on Friday that its rights issue would be R1.7bn ($130m) smaller than planned.

The African loan market has hit 2017 on the front foot, with bankers heralding the support shown for Kenya and Sibanye deals as testament to gathering confidence in the region — but only for the right credits.

Sibanye Gold, the South African gold producer, has set a date for bank commitments as it targets a quick turnaround on a loan backing its acquisition of US palladium miner Stillwater.

Syndication of the acquisition financing loans for Lonza and Sibanye Gold is expected to begin soon, as loans bankers begin 2017 in an optimistic mood.

Shares in Life Healthcare, one of South Africa’s leading private hospital operators, rose 1.5% on Tuesday after it said it would raise R10.7bn ($756m) in a rights issue to reduce its leverage after buying Alliance Medical Group, the UK provider of diagnostic imaging services.

Emerging markets bonds sold off after the US Federal Reserve indicated a more hawkish tone on Wednesday — but much like what happened after the Brexit result, spreads came off their wides quite quickly.

South African gold miner Sibanye has agreed to buy US palladium miner Stillwater for $2.2bn and will raise a $2.7bn loan to pay for the acquisition. Sibanye joins South African borrowers Steinhoff and Aspen in raising large loans for M&A this year.

Standard & Poor’s has surprised to the upside, revising Poland’s outlook to stable from negative while maintaining South Africa’s investment grade status last Friday. The latter decision prompted a 15bp-20bp rally in both South African sovereign and corporate debt.

The busy equity block trade action in Europe since the US election has continued into its third week, though market participants are beginning to brace for the outcome of the Italian referendum on Sunday.

Holders of South African assets face another nervous Friday waiting for a sovereign rating decision, this time from S&P.

MTN Zakhele, a black economic empowerment scheme, has unwound its position in MTN Group, the South African mobile telecoms company, through the first block trade in the company’s shares for six years.