It is believed that Biti disclosed this shocking news to the government newspaper, The Herald.

Biti allegedly said the state will pass laws demanding all banks, including international lenders, to have their shares on the ZSE.

It is understood that the rationale for this move is to assist these companies to raise funding.

It is not clear why he only targeted banks and not companies in other sectors.

“Hopefully, the regulations will be gazetted this Friday to compel banks to list on the stock exchange in the next two years,” Biti reportedly told The Herald, adding this is aimed at preventing future bank failures.

The banks will also be urged to spread their services to rural people.

Fin24 named South African banks operating in Zimbabwe but not listed on the local bourse as Stanbic Bank (Standard Bank Group, MBCA (Nedbank Group), and CABS (Old Mutual).

The South African financial news website named other international banks as Barclays Bank, which is already listed, and Standard Chartered Bank.

The post Zimbabwe Threatens To Force Foreign Banks To List On Local Bourse appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

It is believed that US’s second largest oil firm will generate about $300 million from the sale of these possessions.

International oil majors are currently withdrawing from doing business in their “downstream operations” to pay more attention on high-margin discoveries and production pursuits.

According to Reuters, Royal Dutch Shell in April said it was thinking of disposing off some of its Italian downstream assets.

Earlier this month, the firm sold its Egyptian downstream assets to French energy giant Total.

US-based oil and gas explorer, Hess Corp, is poised to leave its retail gasoline, marketing and trading businesses.

Chevron is also selling its Pakistan assets but the sale of these assets is being conducted separately.

Reuters would not name its sources, saying the matter was not yet public.

It is understood that Chevron has received three non-binding offers from interested parties. Interested parties include regional and international firms.

“They are small assets but are profitable and gaining a lot of interest in the auction process. There are lots of buyers for whom owning these businesses makes perfect sense,” sources told Reuters.

The post Chevron To Sell Egyptian Downstream Assets appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

In addition, the company has positioned Pete Buresh, its regional vice president for International Aircraft Sales/Africa, in Cape Town, South Africa.

“These additional resources put us closer to our customers and position us for growth opportunities in these regions,” said Scott Neal, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Gulfstream. “The momentum we carry following the entry-into-service of our two new aircraft, the G650 and G280, makes this an ideal time for renewed focus, particularly in Europe, a traditionally strong business jet market.”

The London sales and design center will give European, African and other international customers convenient access to the acquisition and design stages of a Gulfstream business jet. Its centerpiece will be a showroom filled with a range of veneers, leathers and fabrics from which to create an aircraft interior.

The facility is located in the Mayfair district of central London.

Gulfstream’s new authorized sales representatives for aircraft transactions in Europe are Tim Leacock Aircraft Sales in the United Kingdom, ATP Aviation in Ankara, Turkey, and Loyd’s Aviation Group in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Gulfstream appointed Evergreen Apple Nigeria in Lagos to the same role.

Each firm has access to a network of entrepreneurs and operators that value and utilize business aviation. ATP Aviation and Loyd’s are Gulfstream operators.

“All of these partners have extensive knowledge of Gulfstream aircraft and what models are the best fits for their respective markets,” Neal said. “Customers will appreciate their expertise and attention to service.”

Buresh, a 20-year Gulfstream employee, was named sales director for Africa in March 2010.

Gullfstream is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), which designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world’s most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. The company has approximately 65 aircraft based in Africa, including more than a third that are G450s or GIVs. Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are each home to more than 10 company-built aircraft.

The post Gulfstream Enhances Aircraft Sales Support In Europe, Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

Workers at the car maker’s assembly plant had gone on a wildcat strike at the end of last week after the firm allegedly threatened to “subject all workers into a kangaroo-style disciplinary process for picketing.”

This move saw South Africa’s rand tumble to a new 4-year low as the market got nervous over continued threats of labour unrest. The local unit fell more than 0.7 percent to 9.4720, reportedly its frailest since April 2009.

This came shortly after workers at platinum miner Lonmin had returned to work after a two-day strike last week demanding the expulsion of rival union from its offices on the mine.

The frequency of the wildcat strikes in South Africa confirms what analysts have been saying, that overall the pattern of violence, illegal strikes and output loss will likely continue in the coming months.

Peter Montalto, an analyst at Nomura Group, said the impact of these strikes will be a wider current account deficit, revenue damage for the fiscal situation and lower economic growth.

“However, key flash points between violent and armed mine workers and police should be watched closely by the market,” Montalto said.

Lynette Skriker, Mercedez Benz spokewoman, said production will start on Tuesday 21 May, adding production in the plant had been negatively impacted by the two-day walkout.

Moneyweb quoted the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa’s) national treasurer, Mphumzi Maqungo, as saying the union would encourage workers to respect court decision.

He reportedly told Moneyweb the lunch-hour demonstrations had collapsed into a protest on Friday.

“The strike action was imposed on them (the workers) after serious provocation and threats by the employer to subject all workers into a kangaroo-style disciplinary process for picketing. We will never allow our members to be bullied for exercising their democratic right to embark on a picket,” he told Moneyweb.

“We fully support the demands of our members. We call on the management to re-open doors of engagement in order to settle the dispute.”

The post 1600 Mercedes Benz Plant Workers On Illegal Strike appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

Traders attributed this battering to the general state of the market on the JSE where stocks got heavy punishment.

BDLive reported that Vodacom’s headline earnings per share for 12 months ending March surged 23 percent to 872c on the back of a secondary tax on companies (STC) which fell over.

Group revenue soared 4.5 percent to R69.9 billion ($7.4 billion). BDLive reported that group data revenue also soared 22.2 percent to R9.9 billion. Data revenue gained from 14 percent 12 months back.

Vodacom said the number of functioning data clients lifted 22.5 percent to 18.5 million as the firm’ sustained push for smartphone infiltration.

Revenue in South Africa gained 2.9 percent to R58.6 billion ($6.2 billion) on the back of 24.6 percent increase in equipment revenue from smartphone and tablet sales, according to BDLive.

“In South Africa, poor performance among independent service providers, persistent economic weakness and on-going cuts in MTRs hampered service revenue growth,” Vodacom said in a statement.

“But strong commercial execution, which included heavily-revised pricing and new prepaid and contract offerings helped to offset these factors,” the company said.

The post Vodacom’s Headline Earnings Soar 23% appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

It was speculated on Friday that these JSE-listed companies were at an advanced stage to take over the company.

A well-placed source told Ventures Africa: “Things look positive and the deal is definitely possible.”

Neotel holds great value for Vodacom and MTN partly because of its well-established fibre network and its valuable frequency spectrum.

Neotel’s current shareholders are Tata Communications (68.5 percent), Nexus Connection (19 percent) and Communitel (12.5 percent).

Introduced in South Africa in August 2006, as the second national operator (SNO), Neotel had Eskom (15 percent), Transtel (15 percent) , Nexus Connection (19 percent) and SEPCO (51 percent) as shareholders.

SEPCO was made up of the Tata Group of India, which held a 51 percent stake in SEPCO, and two private consortia, Communitel and Two Consortium.

Eskom, Transtel, and Two Consortium sold their stakes to Tata Communications, giving the Indian company a 68.5 percent stake in Neotel.

Neotel was evasive when asked for comment on the rumour. “Neotel is experiencing good growth and will soon be announcing its results as well as the company direction for the next financial year,” it said.

However, Ventures Africa has it on good authority that a strict non disclosures agreement prevents the companies from disclosing the takeover deal.

Richard Boorman, Vodacom spokesperson, said Neotel said that it is not company policy to comment on market rumour and speculation.

Boorman said: “We explore investment opportunities on a regular basis, but for obvious reasons I have to decline to comment on any specific companies”.

Nik Kershaw, executive for investor relations at MTN Group, could not comment further than only say: “MTN does not comment on market speculation”.

The post South Africa’s Telecoms Giants Prepare Neotel’s Hostile Takeover appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

The protesting contract workers, from various contract vendors and agencies, assembled in front of the office at about 8 a.m, shutting down operations for the day.

The contract workers protested the ‘injustice and unfair treatment’ by the bank demanding the management to account for all the deductions in their salaries. They also raised issues on tax clearance cards, National Housing Fund contributions, pension fund, gratuity and career progression plan and other sundry issues.

The protesters were accompanied by their parent body, National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) during the protest.

Speaking on the development, Vice Chairman of Diamond Bank Chapter of NUBIFE, Eniola Ilesanmi explained: “For several years, we have been agitating. Our taxes are being deducted before they pay us salaries. I have spent nine years in the bank, I don’t have Tax Clearance Certificate, and my National Housing Fund is deducted from source. As I speak, my National Housing Fund account is in zero. As I speak to you, my Trust Funds Account is irregularly remitted.

“We don’t have workers’ manual, we don’t have Condition of Service and these are the issues we are putting before our management and it has turned deaf ears. We are not talking about salary increase. We are saying that we are not fairly-treated. We want a Condition of Service for our members. We want a career pact implemented in this system. We want all our welfare packages fully implemented. On several occasions, we have written letters to our management on the issue. We have written to NUBIFE and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). It has refused to listen to us until today that we decided to protest,” he said.

The use of contract staffs is common place in the Nigerian banking industry and other sectors of the economy. However, proper regulation of vendors and agencies is questionable.

In response to protest, the management of Diamond Bank in an unsigned statement said: “The bank currently employs about 3,000 full-time staff and about 5,000 outsourced contract staff from various vendors and agencies. These contract staffs include secretaries, drivers, office assistants, technical crew, and so on. As a standard practice all over the world, we are not privy to the contract details between outsourced agencies and their staff.”

“Development that requires our management intervention like the current issue, will, and is being discussed with the management of the outsourced company to resolve their issues in a swift and amicable manner.”

“In the interim, we want to emphasize that the day-to-day activities of the bank will not be interrupted by third-party persons with whom we do not have any contract or dispute.”

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According to Ahram Online, the parent company’s offer will cut the price initially proffered to shareholders from LE280 to LE255 a share.

Additionally, to close the deal, the parent company also informed OCI, which is Egypt’s biggest listed company, to continue with the filing of all paperwork to the appropriate Egyptian authorities.

In a statement, the parent company said it has agreed to the extensions to the equity assurances made by participating US investors like Cascade Investment, L.L.C., Southeastern Asset Management and Davis Selected Advisers to release the cash option to shareholders.

According Ahram Online, OCI N.V. published the exchange offer in January, saying holders of OCI’s global depository receipts would be offered shares in OCI N.V.

Holders of the company’s Egypt-listed stock were afforded the choice of cash or OCI N.V. shares.

Earlier this year, OCI shareholders accepted the bid before Egyptian financial authorities demanded more explanation on the transaction.

The post Orascom’s Parent Company To Acquire Shares In Its Subsidiary appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

“However, a more serious deterioration in domestic security surrounding the mining sector could lead to an earlier downgrade,” Peter Montalto, an analyst at Nomura Group, said.

“All this only goes to reinforce the underlying competitiveness loss of the mining industry in South Africa.”

Today workers at Lonmin, the world’s third biggest platinum miner, kick-started a wildcat strike, closing down the firm’s Marikana mine.

Workers are striking over the killing at the weekend of the organiser of the biggest union on the mine, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).

This has triggered worries about the start of hostilities at the mine.

Late last year, more than 34 people lost their lives when workers and police on the mine clashed. Workers demanded a salary increase and police wanted to quell what was basically an illegal strike.

This led to the judicial commission of enquiry which is still underway. The possibility for continued unrest and production suspensions of precious metals could be a major threat for South Africa’s economy.

Montalto accused the South African government of continuing to “tread the line” of politics and competitiveness as seen with their plan on Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), which is the world’s biggest platinum miner.

“But that outcome in our view was more about timing than eventual outcome. The same number of job losses at Amplats – and elsewhere in the sector – will ultimately occur; it is just a question of how the political environment affects the timing.”

Earlier this year, Amplats said it planned to restructure the firm and that could lead to 14 000 job losses.

This was followed by a huge outcry from the government and unions. Amplats agreed to re-look at this and last week it said it will only retrench 6000 workers.

The post South Africa Facing S&P Downgrade? appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

This comes after UACN announced that it had sold a 51 percent share acquisition of Livestock Feeds Plc, a company that produces animal feeds and quoted in the Agricultural sub-sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s Daily Official List.

MDS is Nigeria’s leading provider of integrated supply chain solutions such as warehousing, haulage, distribution and redistribution in over 600 cities and villages connected by a network of 50 distribution centres across Nigeria.

While UAC will continue to own 51 percent majority stake in MDS Logistics, a statement released by the company on Monday said the joint venture was driven by the need for a strategic partnership with an experienced international operator that would bring technical expertise into the company.

Speaking on the partnership, UACN’s Group Managing Director, Larry Ettah, said his company is looking forward to working together with Imperial Logistics as its strategic partner to engage the under-served and fast- growing logistics market in Nigeria.

Ettah added that, “The combination of MDS’ vital local experience and the value adding international logistics expertise of Imperial Logistics will lead to efficiency and raise benchmarks in Nigeria for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Imperial Logistics Chief Executive Officer, Marius Swanepoel, on his part said, the newest acquisition strengthens Imperial Logistics’ footprint in Africa and that it is consistent with its strategy of focusing on consumer opportunities in Africa and following its customer base on the continent.

“MDS has a quality customer base with a strong new business pipeline. Through the transaction, Imperial has also secured a specialist management team, which strengthens and complements the group’s existing skills set in the logistics business,” he said.

Imperial Logistics, a division of the Imperial group, is an international logistics and supply chain leader delivering excellence in end-to-end logistics and supply chain management with operations in several African countries and in Europe.

UACN, on the other hand, is a company with operations in foods, paints, logistics and real estate.

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