Development finance institution the International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provide financial services firm Absa with a loan of up to R4.5-billion to support the latter’s strategy to expand its green building finance portfolio, which will include new certified green buildings and mortgages. This will enable Absa to increase access to green building finance for developers [...]

JSE-listed Aspen’s fully-owned Mauritius subsidiary Aspen Global Incorporated (AGI) on July 31 concluded an agreement to acquire from Viatris the commercialisation rights and related intellectual property for a portfolio of well-known branded products in Latin America. The fair value of the products has been determined by AGI as $280-million. AGI will settle the consideration through [...]

The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) announced on Tuesday that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Russia’s TVEL Fuel Company. TVEL is a subsidiary of the State-owned Rosatom nuclear group, and the MoU covers cooperation in the area of nuclear fuel (and related components) production. The MoU was actually signed in [...]

American electricity utility Georgia Power on Monday announced that the first new nuclear power plant (NPP) built in the US in 30 years, Vogtle 3, had started commercial operation and was supplying electricity to consumers in the US State of Georgia. Vogtle 3 is a Westinghouse AP1000 pressurised water reactor. (Georgia Power is a subsidiary [...]

Funding has closed for the gold-from-dumps mining project west of Johannesburg, which has the potential to make the surrounding towns thrive once again, and be a shining example of what modern mining can be. The full upfront capital of R2.5-billion for the project’s development has been secured, with conditions precedent to its R1.3-bilion senior debt [...]

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland has lauded the partnership between South Africa and the US, which is expected to result in the US investing $1-billion in South Africa’s energy transition over the next few years. Nuland was speaking during a visit to South African technology and research entity the Council [...]

JSE-listed Telkom has posted a 4.2% decline in group earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebidta) for the first quarter of the 2024 financial year amid the continued decline of legacy revenues and higher direct and operating costs. The group’s Ebitda for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, was R2.23-billion, while its Ebitda margin contracted [...]

State-owned rail companies from Botswana and South Africa are seeking funding for a three-billion pula ($230-million) railway line between the two countries to transport commodities including coal. The Mmamabula-Lephalale link will run 113 km and have a capacity of 24-million tons a year. It will connect to existing routes to South Africa’s Richards Bay and [...]

On Wednesday, unleaded petrol (both 93 and 95) will be hiked by 37c a litre, while diesel will increase by 72c a litre. The latest hikes will bring the price of 95 unleaded petrol to R22.83 a litre in Gauteng, compared to R25.42 a year ago. The wholesale price of diesel will now be R20.21 [...]

The South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC) says it welcomes the decision by Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel to impose antidumping duties on what it calls “unfairly traded” passenger, truck and bus tyres imported from China, following an investigation by the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac). SATMC represents the four tyre manufacturers with plants [...]

Specialised infrastructure and impact investment management firm Infra Impact Investment Managers has announced that its Infra Impact Mid-Market Infrastructure Fund 1 exceeded its fundraising target, reaching a successful final close at R2.15-billion, or $115-million. The fund continues to provide growth capital for South African-focused mid-market infrastructure businesses. The businesses the fund invests in own real [...]

BMW has launched a new test site in Sokolov, Czechia, aimed at developing self-driving and self-parking. The German car maker says the 300-million euro Future Mobility Development Center (FMDC) will play a key role in the company’s development of automated driving.