South Africa

Two South African rights issues are under way - one from a position of strength and one to deal with weakness - as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange rallies after the shock of Brexit last Friday.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s credit markets are benefiting from Britain’s decision to leave the EU as well as a more dovish stance from the US Federal Reserve, with bonds rallying to new lows, according to EM specialists.

South African investment firm Brait has signed new four year debt facilities as it seeks further potential acquisitions.

Johannesburg-listed drug manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare completed arranging €3bn-equivalent of loans on Wednesday. The multicurrency deal was more than twice oversubscribed in the euro tranche.

Eskom, the South African state-owned electricity firm, is arranging a syndicated loan with a guarantee from African Development Bank (AfDB), and the deal could be as large as $1bn, said one banker this week.

Investec, the South African-UK bank and asset manager, raised £138.3m on Thursday with a 5% capital increase, conducted as an accelerated bookbuild by JP Morgan.

Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, the largest drug manufacturer in South Africa, has nearly completed syndication of a large dollar loan, according to bankers.

Gordon Dadds, a law and professional services firm, will begin offering a derivative documentation managed service as part of a newly launched consultancy business.

Barclays made a convincing start to its plan of reducing its stake in Barclays Africa on Wednesday night, with a successful block trade that netted $4bn of demand from what bankers on it said was a very high quality group of institutions.

A consortium including Bob Diamond’s Atlas Merchant Capital is still pursuing a potential bid for Barclays Africa, even after Barclays sold a 12% stake in it in a block trade on Wednesday night, and a senior regulator said a private equity bid would not be welcome.

Barclays has this evening executed a R13bn ($900m) accelerated bookbuild in shares of Barclays Africa Group, its separately listed South African subsidiary, as the first stage in its already announced plan to divest the bank. The trade was covered in 35 minutes and multiple times oversubscribed.

French firm Fnac will imminently launch syndication of its loan to buy retailer Darty, after winning a bidding war with South Africa's Steinhoff. Meanwhile, banks supplying a £920m loan for the thwarted rival await instructions.