STORY: Here are five business stories making headlines in sub-Saharan Africa this week.
South African billionaire Johann Rupert’s Remgro and Switzerland’s MSC Mediterranean Shipping are set to buy listed hospital chain operator Mediclinic International for $4.5 billion.
Remgro already owns 45% of Mediclinic, South Africa’s third biggest hospital operator, and the two said the deal values the company at $7.4bn.
Botswana and South Africa have agreed to fund the improvement and extension of rail links in a bid to boost trade and better connect Botswana to export markets.
That’s according to South Africa’s state-owned Transnet Freight Rail, which will collaborate with Botswana Rail to enable heavy haul trains to travel on the new line within the next two years.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has sacked the country’s finance minister and central bank governor, according to a decree read on state television.
No reason was given. South Sudan’s economy has been in the doldrums since a civil war that erupted in 2013.
South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti’s shares rose 2% on Friday (Aug 5) after its CEO pledged to reduce the costs that dented half-year earnings.
The gold miner saw headline earnings per share – the main profit measure in South Africa – fall 18% year-on-year while total cash costs were up 6% as inflation accelerated.
And finally Nigeria’s broadcast regulator has fined Multichoice Nigeria and others five million naira each, or just over $12,000, for airing a BBC report that it said “glorified” the activities of bandits and “undermines national security”.
Armed criminals, known locally as bandits, have kidnapped thousands of Nigerians over the past two years.
Mulitchoice, which is part of a South African pay-TV group, had no immediate comment.
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