The Covid-19 loan guarantee scheme will be extended by three months. The scheme was launched as part of government's R500-billion stimulus package to support the economy given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme is based on a partnership between National Treasury, the SA Reserve Bank and the Banking Association of South Africa. It [...]

MTN Group is valuing its mobile-money arm at about $5-billion, joining African wireless carriers planning to list these businesses in a region that has more mobile-money accounts than anywhere else in the world. MTN’s valuation of its unit follows Mastercard Inc. and TPG Holdings investing $300-million in Airtel Africa’s mobile-money business at a $2.65-billion value.

In its budget proposal for the 2022 financial year (FY), the new US administration of President Joe Biden has included some $24.7-billion for the country’s space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). This would represent an approximately 6.3% increase over the agency’s allocation during FY2021. The US federal government’s financial year starts on October 1 [...]

Energy and marine equipment manufacturer Wärtsilä will convert the 90 MW Bel-Air heavy fuel oil power plant in Dakar, Senegal, to operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG). The project is part of an interim LNG-to-power bridge solution, and is the first power plant gas conversion in Senegal, the company said on April 12.

Asset management company Moshesh Partners has reached a first close for its first renewable energy and clean infrastructure fund, and is targeting R2-billion in assets under management in the next 18 months, said Moshesh Partners co-founding member and CEO Sifiso Shongwe on April 9. This goal was in addition to the more than 2 000 [...]

Suspended Eskom procurement chief Solly Tshitangano supported the awarding of contracts worth more than R8-billion to Econ Oil in 2019 - despite being aware of evidence of impropriety and possible corruption involving Econ and Eskom officials.    He also took no steps to further investigate Econ Oil's possible misconduct, allegations which were first raised in 2016 and again in 2018, and allegedly misled the Eskom board over the status of Econ, resulting in the board approving [...]

Total’s likely decision to proceed with a $5.1-billion Ugandan oil project will extend its dominance as the biggest spender in sub-Saharan Africa. The French energy giant, poised to greenlight the plan within days, has been the largest investor in the region since 2012. Its spending on exploration and production there peaked at $6.2-billion eight years [...]

A newly launched private infrastructure investment fund FiveT Hydrogen is dedicated to delivering clean hydrogen infrastructure projects at scale. The fund aims to raise €1-billion from a combination of financial and industrial investors and act as a catalyst in the scaling of the global hydrogen economy. It has received publicly announced investment intentions of about €300-million.

The express parcel industry has more than doubled over the last decade, says South African Express Parcel Association (SAEPA) CEO Garry Marshall, and is currently the fastest growing transport sector in the country.  He says studies show that the formal industry recorded R8-billion in turnover in 2012, with this growing to more than R20-billion over the [...]

Telecommunications group MTN Nigeria has been participating in a series of meetings, since April 6, to align on longer term pricing structures after a temporary suspension of airtime sales through the company’s banking channels owing to a dispute over the reduction in cost of sales. The sales of MTN products through its banking channel partners [...]

Chemicals manufacturing company Nyanza Light Metal has invested R4.5-billion on the construction of a plant to produce titanium dioxide at the Richard’s Bay Industrial Development Zone (IDZ), in KwaZulu-Natal. The announcement was made by MEC for Finance Nomusa Dube-Ncube during a Public Sector Procurement Forum this week.

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is investing about R1.2-billion in road construction projects in Cradock and Middelburg, in the Eastern Cape, over the next three years. The projects in the Inxuba Yethemba local municipality are at various stages, with some in tender stage and some in the construction stage, while others will have a [...]