Business

HARARE – BancABC’s parent company, Atlas Mara, has partnered with the United States (US) government’s development finance institution, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), for a $300 million project to finance acquisitions and on-lending across Africa. Under the terms of the agreement, OPIC will provide $200 million in long-term debt and Atlas Mara will provide…

HARARE – French seed company Limagrain has increased its stake in Zimbabwe’s largest seed producer, SeedCo, from 15 percent to 30 percent, a top company official has said. SeedCo chairman John Rooney said relations between the two agro-concern companies will see them extending their tentacles into more countries on the African continent. “I am delighted…

HARARE – The central bank has disbursed about $4 million towards paying depositors money which was wiped out when the country adopted the multi-currency system shunning the embattled local currency, the Zimbabwean dollar (Z$), the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor said. Central bank governor John Mangudya said the demonetisation of the Z$, which started…

HARARE – Parliamentarians have asked Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, to clarify the austerity measures for the civil service which he proposed in his Mid-term Fiscal Statement, it has emerged. Austerity means cutting expenditure, retrenching, halting projects or reducing spending, and in the Zimbabwe situation, this would include reduction of expenditure on social sectors of the…

HARARE – MBCA Bank, a unit of South Africa’s Nedbank group, recorded a 42 percent surge in profit to $2,65 million in the half year to June 2015 from $1,87 million in the comparable period due to an increase in net interest income. MBCA managing director Charity Jinya said the financial institution’s operating income surged…

HARARE – Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya says the country is ready to establish a bond market. “The bond market would be an avenue for the intermediation process through the mobilisation of long-term savings and channelling them to the needy productive sectors of the economy,” he said in his mid-term monetary policy…

HARARE – Zimbabwe has so far paid out approximately $200 million towards maturing Treasury Bills (TBs), Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said. TBs are short-term most marketable money market securities that mature in one year or less from their issue date. Presenting his Mid-term Fiscal Policy statement last week, Chinamasa said Treasury mobilised $205 million as…

HARARE – Defunct AfrAsia Zimbabwe Holdings Limited (AZHL) — formerly Kingdom Financial Holdings Limited — is set to dispose assets worth nearly $40 million to compensate creditors, the group’s liquidator has said. Grant Thornton managing director Reggie Saruchera told a creditors’ meeting last week Friday that he would follow up on AZHL non-performing loans (NPLs)…

HARARE – Zimbabwe says work at the Kariba South hydro-electric plant is going ahead as planned despite earlier warnings that China Eximbank had withheld funds for the project until government clears its previous loan arrears. Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said the project — expected to add an additional 300 megawatts (MW) to the national grid…

HARARE – Cottco Holdings Limited (Cottco) has registered a $30,2 million loss in the full year to March 31, 2015 from a profit of $14,9 million recorded in the same period last year. The company’s executive chairman, Douglas Ncube, said the loss included impairments of $11,2 million in respect of trade and other receivables, inventory…