South Africa

Steinhoff, the South African retail group, has completed a €2.45bn capital increase supported by one of South Africa’s richest men, Christoffel Wiese, and the Public Investment corp, of which €556m was raised through an accelerated bookbuild which ended up being nearly four times oversubscribed.

The cheerful and businesslike mood in European equity capital markets, despite clear risks of volatility in the offing, was highlighted again today by the launch of a €2.5bn capital raising by Steinhoff, the South African retail group.

PPC, the largest listed South African cement producer, has completed its fully underwritten 16-for-10 rights issue in Johannesburg, raising R4bn ($280m) to clear its debts in the wake of a downgrade by Standard & Poor’s.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has made a key hire for its South African investment banking business.

PPC, the largest listed South African cement producer, has completed its fully underwritten rights issue in Johannesburg, raising R4bn ($280m) to clear its debts in the wake of a downgrade by Standard & Poor's.

Gold One Group, which produces low-cost gold in South Africa and is part of the Citic Group, is laying the groundwork for a Hong Kong listing with a preliminary filing.

Stanbic Bank Uganda this week decreased the size of its loan refinancing to $55m. Weaker appetite for dollars from Ugandan corporates and a prospective US rate hike were reasons for the smaller deal, the bank's CFO told GlobalCapital.

South African telecoms company MTN will start meeting investors this week ahead of a potential dollar bond market return.

Steinhoff completed syndication of $4bn of acquisition loans this week with the deal going “better than expected", according to bankers. The loan market has not shown signs of fatigue for the South African-based furniture retailer, even though the borrower has already asked a lot of the market this year.

Banks are signing documents for the $4bn of acquisition loans for South African-based Steinhoff on Wednesday. The deal has gone “better than expected,” according to one lead banker.

South Africa was thrown into financial uncertainty this week as its finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, became embroiled in a corruption probe by the country’s elite police unit, the Hawks. Volatility hit local currency bonds, which remain some 50bp wider, but the country’s sovereign curve is already recovering and in equities and loans it is business as usual. But some say this underplays the risk of investing in South African assets.

The sun continued to shine on South African equity capital markets this week, despite growing political volatility.