South Africa

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.

South African assets were facing another week of uncertainty as reports emerged on Monday that ANC leaders were preparing a vote of no confidence against president Jacob Zuma and traders warned of the potential for a ratings downgrade on Friday.

The busy equity block trade action, widely predicted by ECM bankers when the US presidential election produced a bounce in share prices, has continued this week with a string of sales totalling over $1.5bn.

Rhodes Food Group, the South African producer of canned food and ready meals, has completed a R663m ($46m) capital increase, through an accelerated bookbuild launched on Wednesday night.

Daily portfolio flows to emerging markets have fallen since the US election, with the seven day moving average declining to its the lowest level since August 2015, according to the Institute of International Finance.

Bayer, the German life sciences group, picked Tuesday night to launch the first part of its $19bn equity financing for its $66bn takeover of Monsanto. Bayer's deal comes as equity markets are revitalised by the new conviction that Western policy is shifting to reflation.

Shares in Dis-Chem Pharmacies, the South African retail pharmacy group, closed 16% above their offer price on their debut on Friday, after the company had raised R4.38bn ($305m) by pricing its IPO slightly above the middle of its range on Monday.

Dis-Chem Pharmacies, the South African retail pharmacy group, has tightened the price range on its Johannesburg IPO, which values it at up to R16bn ($1.1bn).