Since 2000, five new sovereign nations have been created, the most recent being South Sudan (2011). The country has, however, enjoyed effective autonomy from Sudan since 2005. The plight of the country since independence has been tragic: civil war broke out in late-2013, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of at least two million. There was much optimism when South Sudan gained its independence. Africa had gained a new oil-producing nation at a time when prices were much higher than those currently prevailing. In 2011, South Sudan was producing 350,000 barrels per day. The onset of civil war has lowered this figure to the current paltry level of 150,000. Furthermore, the collapse in oil prices since July 2014 has shaken government finances to the core. Roughly 95% of tax receipts are derived from oil. The government’s dire financial problem is also compounded by the type of oil that South Sudan produces, namely Dar Blend. This oil grade normally sells at a discount of $6-$12 per barrel to Brent. This meant South Sudan sold its oil at a loss whenever Brent crude traded below $35 per barrel. How was this possible? Under an agreement between the governments of South Sudan and Sudan, the latter received Dar Blend at $24.1 per barrel for transporting the oil across her territory to the Red Sea for export. The charge consisted of two components: 1) a transit fee of $9.1 per barrel, and 2) a Transitional Financial Arrangement (TFA) of $15 per barrel as compensation for the loss of resources in the former part of the country that became South Sudan.
The AGF Asset Managers Top 40 is our annual guide to the most respected and influential figures in the African asset management industry. This year’s list comprises top local asset management firms in Africa and the global industry players, which run Africa-focused funds. This is the guide to both traditional asset management firms and hedge funds, as well as fund of funds and fund of hedge funds managers.
Agricultural investment funds have underscored public and private sectors’ interest to help address the resource constraints for achieving food security. Concerns over food security are not limited to Africa, and this is now a global worry. The World Bank anticipates that urban food markets will increase fourfold by 2030, to exceed $500bn, so food production needs to more than double to meet this growing demand.
Zambia’s agriculture sector takes aim at exciting new growth markets as resilient farmers, innovative funding models combine to provide a strong underpin, writes Leon Kotze, Head of Agri Business for Stanbic Bank, a member of the Standard Bank Group
Phatisa’s African Agriculture Fund (AAF) concluded its investment of $24m in Goldenlay in early 2012. The Phatisa deal team structured and negotiated a leveraged management buyout transaction, which resulted in the exit of Aureos (now known as The Abraaj Group). The structure of the investment was a combination of mezzanine and equity funding.
Type Zambia into google and one of the first news stories that comes up is about people hanging off the edge of a massive waterfall in Zambia. The waterfall in question is the Victoria Falls, where calm pools at the top allow people to sit in the water and literally hang over the edge of a massive drop. With the general mood of investors in the emerging markets and in Africa sometime it feels that hanging in a pool a tiny space away from a massive drop is exactly where markets are, despite the drops we have already seen.
Industrial space, land and insurers are three things to ponder for anyone with an appetite for a piece of prime Lagos, Nigeria, finds Anne-Louise Stranne Petersen
Côte d’Ivoire is one of the most stable economies in the Francophone egion, but the infrastructure-investment story has not so far proved easy to buy. Anna Lyudvig investigates why infrastructure funds face a number of challenges in the country and what needs to change to boost investment
Seeiso Matlanyane, Research Analyst, Prescient Investment Management, explains the idea behind hedging currency exposure, focusing on Kenyan shilling and Nigerian naira
Ashburton Investments has recently acquired 100% of boutique Cape Town fixed income asset manager Atlantic Asset Management, which includes the Atlantic Specialised Finance division. The acquisition complements Ashburton Investments’existing new generation fixed income business by adding to its range of traditional fixed income funds as well as introducing Atlantic's expertise in managing social impact investments. Ashburton Investments’s CEO Boshoff Grobler (pictured) and Head of Fixed Income, Shalin Bhagwan, tell AGF about the acquisition and future plans
Africa’s leading mezzanine debt provider, Vantage Capital, is in the final stages of closing its third mezzanine fund. AGF catches up with Colin Rezek, co-Managing Partner at Vantage, to discuss their success story
Frontier and emerging markets have been through rather turbulent times over the past year to 18 months, mainly due to a confluence of global economic developments, the slowdown in China and resultant sell-off in commodity markets. These developments have hit African economies especially hard, with stock markets on the continent selling off more than 20% in the last year.
As we enter 2016, AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with leading industry experts about potential trends and themes facing the African asset management during the next 12 months
Ethiopia’s private equity market is relatively small by African standards, but has strong macro drivers that signal significant potential for future growth, writes Dorothy Kelso of AVCA
