Africa

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) on Wednesday called for "esoteric" exchange traded funds (ETFs) to be “closely monitored” and for a further expansion of clearing of derivatives and cash markets.

South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) has sent a freedom of information (FOI) request for full terms of a $2.5bn-equivalent loan from China to utility Eskom, with the official opposition party fearing a potential loss of ownership of the company to its Asian creditors.

China lays out even more ambitious plans for lending, trading and investment in Africa at a summit in Beijing this week, the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (AmCham HK) makes political and economic agenda recommendations to the city’s government, and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing asks market participants to be ready for the implementation of investor ID on the Stock Connect.

Renaissance Capital has hired a new director for its DCM team as part of the bank’s expansion of its capital markets business in Africa.

Lenders have been “very significantly” scaled back in a $1bn loan for Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC), as demand for the pre-export finance deal far surpassed the cross-border trade linked to the loan’s structure.

South African precious metals mining company Sibanye Stillwater has launched a tender process to repurchase some of its high yield and convertible bonds.

The UK has announced an up to £750m export credit line to Nigeria, at a time when loans bankers say that sub-Saharan Africa names are tricky to finance.

Potential IPO issuers from across emerging markets are waiting for investor sentiment to calm so that they can sell new deals, but many fear that there is little chance of a renaissance for EM this year.

Transnet is relying on the goodwill of its banks after an extraordinary auditing process at the infrastructure company triggered a document clause allowing creditors to accelerate a loan payment. The tricky situation for the South African state-owned company comes at a time when the country is rebuilding its reputation in markets after a painful year.

Burundi-headquartered Eastern Southern Africa Trade & Development Bank has launched a $400m dual tranche loan into syndication, according to two lenders invited into the deal.

The Republic of Angola's bonds rallied some 40bp on Monday after its ministry of finance said that it had sought financial support from the International Monetary Fund, but lost some of those gains as rumours of new dollar issue surfaced.

South Africa’s Transnet is relying on the goodwill of its bank lending groups after an extraordinary auditing process at the infrastructure company triggered a document clause allowing creditors to accelerate loan payment.