🎧 Capital Markets Africa Weekly News Roundup, 27th October 2023
Welcome to the Capital Markets Africa weekly news roundup. Your source for the latest happenings across the listed African equities space.
We kick things off in Ghana where the government has granted Aussie miner Atlantic Lithium Limited a lease for its flagship Ewoyaa lithium mine and processing plant. The lease is for 12 years, the expected life of the mine. The company expects to produce about 350,000 tons of lithium per annum.
Atlantic is expected to list its Ghanaian subsidiary on the local stock exchange, while Ghana's sovereign wealth fund, the Minerals Income Investment Fund, is expected to take a 6% stake in the local listed company, as well as a 3% stake in Atlantic Lithium Limited.
As the global energy transition gathers pace, African governments are keen to retain a larger share of their countries' unprocessed minerals. Earlier this year, the Ghanaian government banned the bulk export of unprocessed lithium and other minerals critical to the global energy transition.
Atlantic Lithium Limited is listed on both the Australian Stock Exchange and London's FTSE AIM All-Share index.
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Gemfields, the gemstones miner, has completed a share buyback of 55.6 million shares. The transactions amount to just over 185 million South African rand, about US$10 million. The repurchase represents 4.83% of the company's issued share capital.
A share buyback is simply a transaction by which a listed company buys back its own shares from the marketplace. There are two main reasons for this: (a) it has no reason to fund immediate capital projects, or (b) it wants to influence its share price in the market.Â
Gemfields mines precious stones, such as emeralds and ruby, in countries like Zambia and Mozambique. It's dual listed on the JSE and London's AIM All-Share Index.
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To South Africa where Textainer Group Holdings, one of the world's largest shipping container leasing companies, has been taken over by Stonepeak, an infrastructure and real assets investment firm. Stonepeak will pay US$7.4 billion for Textainer.
The company will be delisting from both the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, where it has its primary listing.
Under the terms of the deal, Stonepeak will pay Textainer common shareholders $50 per share in cash. This represents a 46% premium on the company's closing share price the day the deal was announced.
Last year, Textainer reported a full-year net income of close to US$300 million.Â
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Now, to Nigeria where last week the government announced its mega ₦26 trillion budget for 2024. That's about US$32 billion.
This has been an eventful year for the country – from a new president, to deep FX challenges, to a new oil refinery…
So, I wanted to hear more about the big themes emerging from the budget. I spoke with Sodiq Safiriyu, senior research analyst at Meristam Securities Limited, an investment firm based in Lagos.
Join us again next Friday on the Capital Markets Africa Weekly News Roundup!
© Capital Markets Africa, 2023
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