Thursday 25 September 2014

Nigeria: US Consortium To Invest N35bn In Nigeria’s Power Sector

electric_power_transformers_plantThe quest by the Federal Government to attract investment into the Energy Sector and boost electricity supply in the country may have received additional boost as consortium of American Investors have indicated interest to inject about 100 Mega Watts of electricity in Abuja and Kano State.
The value of the renewable energy investment is N35billion about ($212 million) and is expected to come on stream by the third quarter of 2015. The consortiums of American companies who have indicated interest are Global Business Resources USA, Global Resources Network USA, Flatbush Solar USA and Charbourne & Parke, LLP USA.
The Group which was led by Mr. James C. Nicholas, executive partner of Global Business Resources USA disclosed this yesterday when they paid a courtesy visit on the executive secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Mrs. Saratu Umar, in her office. The group is in Nigeria to explore opportunities in renewable energy development under the Umbrella of Power Africa Initiative of President Obama.
The group has already begun discussion with Abuja Distribution Company and would be visiting Kano to discuss on where to site the project and other logistics. They are also desirous to embark on rural electrification project across the country with a view to supplying electricity to rural dwellers and provide relevant tools or device that will assist in monitoring and securing of electricity infrastructure in the country.
Responding, Umar commended them for their interest to invest in Nigeria and help develop the power sector which is very critical to the economic development of the country.
She assured of the Commission’s readiness to provide them with all necessary assistance and support for the smooth take-off of the project in Abuja and Kano, stressing that NIPC as an agency of the federal government has the mandate to encourage, promote, coordinate and monitor all investments in the Nigerian economy.
Source: Leadership

Adebajo: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Nigeria’s Iron Lady

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
ON the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Cape Town in March 2013, I chaired a book launch starring Nigeria’s formidable first female finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, resplendent in her trademark African traditional dress and matching head-gear. She talked unpretentiously without the affected foreign accent of some Nigerians that have spent two decades abroad. She had recently published a book Reforming the Unreformable on her time – between 2003 and 2006 – as finance minister of Africa’s largest economy, which received surprisingly few reviews in Nigeria. Okonjo-Iweala had been the architect of the deal to pay off Nigeria’s $30 billion debt (the second largest such debt deal with the Paris Club of creditors at the time), and led a team of technocratic reformers seeking to tackle corruption, build efficient public and private institutions, and transform the country into an emerging economy.
   Without any notes, Okonjo-Iweala gave a fluent, inspiring, and intrepid presentation, breaking down complicated economic concepts in ways that were easy for the general audience to digest. She berated Nigeria’s failure to create a system of sound planning and financial management of its oil resources; described Herculean efforts to fight vested interests at great personal cost; detailed how she had used her impressive international network to achieve Nigeria’s debt deal; observed that Nigeria’s political class appeared to be intimidated by its economic technocrats; and brushed off concerns about women not being equal to men. Nicknamed Okonjo-“Wahala” (Troublemaker) by Nigeria’s lively press, this was a virtuosic performance.

Nigeria: Eurobonds to the rescue of Nigerian banks

After the 2009 Nigerian banking crisis, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) opted for a risk-based supervision approach in the banking sector to address the inherent systemic risks occasioned by the failure in corporate governance, inadequate disclosure and exposure about financial positions, gaps in the regulatory framework, and uneven supervision and enforcement.  Emerging themes in the global economy including the United States’ quantitative easing programme, Eurozone contagion issues and international conflicts in Iraqi, Syria, Ukraine, and Gaza juxtaposed with the whirlwind of domestic reforms has contributed in no small measure to increasing costs and a profitability squeeze in the Nigerian banking sector.
Also, regulatory headwinds such as: the sterilization of public and private sector funds through the hike in cash reserve requirement to 75% and 15% for public and private sector funds respectively; the increased capital adequacy requirements and liquidity ratios for financial institutions designated systemically important banks; and the preparation for the adoption of Basel ll/lll regulatory standards; compelled many banks to adjust their business models and access the international debt capital market as a last resort for augmenting funding gaps and meeting regulatory requirements.
Finally, the growing demand for dollar denominated loans amidst lower interest rates in developed economies increased the frequency of Eurobond issuance by Nigerian banks with circa US$3.9 billion raised as tier ll capital by Nigerian banks from the Eurobond market since 2011 and over US$1.9 billion raised in 2014 alone.

Africa’s Youngest Billionaire Offers Young Entrepreneurs One-on-One Business Pitch Opportunity In Nigeria

VENTURES AFRICA – Mara Mentor, an initiative of Mara Foundation, is offering entrepreneurs in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, a lifetime opportunity to get expert business mentorship from leading entrepreneurs in the West African country.
Mara Foundation was launched in 2009 by Africa’s youngest billionaire, Ashish J. Thakkar, Founder of Mara Group. Since its inception, the Foundation has scaled its programmatic focus and is now active in a number of countries across Africa.
Sequel to its exceedingly successful Mara Mentor One-on-One Lagos event, where over 60 young Nigerian entrepreneurs won business mentorship placement under top Nigerian business leaders, the Mara Mentor One-on-One business pitch session, which has recorded great success in Africa, having been held 10 times across the continent, is now set to hold in Abuja, on the 14th of October 2014.
Mara Mentor One-on-One in Lagos
Mara Mentor One-on-One in Lagos

South Africa’s maiden sukuk ‘more than four times oversubscribed’

Image result for south africaThe National Treasury said yesterday that it had concluded its debut 5.75-year Islamic bond issuance in the international capital markets priced at a coupon rate of 3.90%, “representing a spread of 180 basis points above the corresponding benchmark rate”.
The Treasury said the transaction was more than four times oversubscribed with an order book of $2.2 billion (1-page 128 KB PDF). The bond will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The lead arrangers for the transaction were BNP Paribas, KFH Investment and South Africa’s Standard Bank Group.
The Treasury said South Africa’s decision to issue an Islamic bond was “informed by a drive to broaden the investor base and to set a benchmark for state-owned companies seeking diversified sources of funding for infrastructure development.”
The investor distribution of the sukuk transaction consisted of 59% from the Middle East and Asia, 25% from Europe, 8% from the US and the remainder from the rest of the world, the Treasury said.

Nigeria: Equity Transactions Reverse To Bullish Trend On NSE

nigeria_stock_exchange_nse_1Activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday reversed to the upward trend after depreciating for two consecutive days.
Meanwhile, the market capitalisation and the All-Share Index for the two days of bearish trade amounted to a total N26.92 trillion and 81,521.32 points respectively.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). reports that the market capitalisation, which opened at N13.385 trillion increased by 0.67 per cent or N90 billion to close at N13.475 trillion.
Similarly, the All-Share Index rose by 272.12 points or 0.67 per cent to close at 40,809.32, compared with 40,537.20 declared on Tuesday following price depreciation.
Guinness led the gainers’ chart by N6.01 to close at N180 per share.
Dangote Cement gained N6 to close at N225, while Glaxosmith grew by N4.74 to close at N64.74 per share.
GTBank appreciated by 9k to close at N28.9, while Champion chalked up 43k to closed at N9.45 per share.
On the other hand, Nestle recorded the highest price loss, shedding N19.9 to close at N10.50 per share.
Seplat trailed with a loss of N10 to close at N640, while Mobil dipped N5.95 to close at N174 per share.
Forte Oil lost N5.85 to close at N219, while Lafarge Wapco went down by N1.5 to close at to close at N128.5 per share.
The financial services sector came as the investors’ delight as UBCAP emerged the most traded equity with 154.38 million shares valued N324.15 million.
AIICO Insurance exchanged 42.62 million shares worth N34.09 million, while NEM Insurance sold 27.19 million shares worth 22.91 million.
Zenith Bank traded 21.42 million shares worth N514.00 million, while GTBank accounted for 19.31 million shares worth N544.76 million.
Consequently, the volume of shares traded increased by 45.31 per cent as investors exchanged a total of 427.766 million shares worth N11.90 billion in 4,342 deals.
This is against the 294.390 million shares valued at N3.49 billion traded in 5,097 deals on Tuesday. (NAN)

Wednesday 24 September 2014

African countries to Issue more than $1 billion in climate change bonds

African states will announce African Risk Capacity (ARC) Extreme Climate Facility (XCF), a multi-year funding mechanism that will issue climate change catastrophe bonds, in an attempt to access private capital to fund climate change adaption on the continent.

The bonds – planned to be issued in 2016 – will provide additional financing to participating countries to enhance their climate adaptation investments, in the event that weather shocks such as extreme heat, droughts, floods or cyclones increase in occurrence and intensity across the continent. 
Experts estimate Africa needs to invest between $10-20 billion annually through 2050 to prepare for a 2°C-warmer world. 
"Africa needs solutions. The XCF will offer African nations a new financing mechanism to manage climate risks by providing direct access to new private capital and by leveraging development partner contributions. We are leading the way in innovative climate finance," said Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's Minister of Finance and Chair of ARC's Governing Board, ahead of the UN Climate Summit tomorrow in New York.