In this episode, Augustine Chipungu speaks to Paul McDade, Chief Executive of Afentra, a recently formed London listed oil and gas company which seeks to support the exit strategies of international oil companies (IOCs), ensuring a responsible transition for African government towards sustainable future.

Mediterrania Capital Partners, the Private Equity firm focused on growth investments for SMEs and mid-cap companies in North and Sub-Saharan Africa, announces its investment, through its fund MC III, in Dislog Industries, one of the largest FMCG manufacturers in Morocco.

In a scathing majority judgment, South African’s Constitutional Court on 29 June found former President Jacob

Zuma guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him to 15 months imprisonment following his refusal to participate in the ongoing Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector.

In the days preceding his arrest, Zuma publicly lambasted the Constitutional Court judgment whilst some of his key supporters warned of dire consequences if he were to be jailed

AMEA Power, in a joint venture with Xenel Industries of Saudi Arabia, announced today the commissioning of its 51.75MW wind power plant in Jordan. The commercial operation date was officially achieved on July 5th 2021, despite the challenges of Covid-19.

On 1 January 2021, the 12-year agreement signed last October between the Government of Ivory Coast and the country’s integrated electricity utility CIE (Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité) became operational, establishing one of the first incentive-based regulatory regimes in Africa. FTI Consulting acted as advisor on economic and financial aspects to help achieve the Government’s goals: to improve quality of supply, increase cost efficiency and transparency, prepare for sector liberalisation, and establish a clear and dynamic remuneration mechanism.

Crown Agents Bank, the UK regulated financial service partner of choice for governments, international development organisations, banks and pension administrators, has today announced the launch of its new pension solution, EMpower Pensions offers effective, end-to-end pensions management from one easy-to-use interactive platform, including Biometric Facial Authentication Proof of Life technology, reporting and convenient administration functions for pension administrators & their pensioners alike.

Global real estate adviser Knight Frank has partnered with Rennie Property, one of South Africa’s most prominent and trusted commercial property specialists.

InfraCo Africa and Rural Village Energy Solutions (RVE.SOL) today signed a joint Shareholders Agreement committing a total of $8 million to support the scale up of RVE.SOL’s innovative multi-sector KUDURA Power East Africa (KPEA) business in Kenya. InfraCo Africa will become a 40% shareholder of KPEA

When London-based investment firm ThirdWay Africa (TWA) was launched in 2014, its objective was to fundamentally change Africa’s investment landscape. The judging panel, for the second consecutive year, is impressed. It presents ThirdWay Africa with the 2021 award for Best ESG Merchant Banking Team (Africa).

At its June 2021 Plenary, the FATF has made “the initial determination that Mauritius has substantially completed its Action Plan and warrants an on-site assessment to verify that the implementation of Mauritius’s AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained, and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation in the future.” This is a determining step towards exiting the FATF List of “Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring”. Mauritius has been commended by the FATF for the progress achieved in addressing the strategic deficiencies especially under difficult circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

InfraCo Africa, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), has signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with Cardano Development (CD), committing up to US$1 million to the development of a credit enhancement facility in Kenya. The investment is being made through the company’s dedicated investment vehicle which is backed by the UK Government’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The facility will be designed to unlock local currency investment from institutional investors and once established, is expected to support infrastructure development across a range of sectors.

Crown Agents Bank Ltd (“CAB”) is pleased to announce they have been selected as a new banking partner by Cambridge Global Payments (“Cambridge”), a FLEETCOR company and a provider of integrated cross-border payments and currency risk management solutions. The partnership allows Cambridge to expand its global banking footprint to facilitate payments across emerging and frontier markets in APAC and Africa.

Radisson Hotel Group in partnership with Madaëf are proud to announce the signing of seven Moroccan hotels, of which four will open its doors this month, located in renowned tourist areas, Al Hoceima, Saïdia and Taghazout. The new portfolio consisting of resorts and residences will add over 1600 rooms bringing the Group’s Moroccan portfolio to 10 hotels, fast-tracking its strategy to reach 15 hotels in operation and under development in the country by 2025.

The performance of office rents across Africa remains mixed, according to Knight Frank’s inaugural Africa Office Market Dashboard for Q1 2021. Like most other regions around the world, African cities have seen diminished office demand, which has been exacerbated by the economic fallout as a result of the pandemic.

According to Knight Frank’s 28-city composite index, which tracks office rental performance in some of Africa’s most prominent cities, prime office rents remained stable during Q1 2021.

Welcome to the June edition of the Addleshaw Goddard Africa Group Newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading a selection of business news and articles from around the continent.

On 5th June 2021, the G71 reached a historic deal to change the international tax framework whereby it is expected that multinational companies will end up paying more tax. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been working hard to get consensus on the reform of the international tax framework. In 2020, the OECD released its reports on the blueprints of the two-pillar approach to address the tax challenges arising from digitalisation of the economy. The G7 agreed to move forward with both pillars. On one side they agreed on a global minimum tax rate of 15% (Pillar 2) and on the other side it was also agreed that companies will end up paying more tax in the countries where they are selling their products (Pillar 1).

Global law firm Clyde & Co advised private equity firm Adenia Partners on its 100% acquisition of Africa Biosystems Limited (ABL), a leading distributor of life sciences and clinical diagnostics equipment in East Africa.

Mobile money products and services have taken off in many parts of the world, to the extent that in some regions they have become more widely used than traditional banking. For example, in five out eight countries in the Southern African region, roughly half of individuals have subscribed to a mobile money service—many of whom do not have a bank account. Similarly in India, the number of mobile money accounts grew by 95% between 2014 and 2019. In the Middle East, fintech is growing by 30% annually and projected to generate $2 billion in investment capital funding by 2022.

A consortium led by Salt Capital, which includes the German development finance institution DEG and management shareholders, has announced the signing of a sale and purchase agreement for the sale of 100% of the issued share capital of Deep Catch Namibia Holdings (“Deep Catch”) to JSE-listed Imperial Logistics Limited (“Imperial”) for an estimated purchase consideration of N$633 million.