The Federal Government of Nigeria has reiterated its interest in keeping existing investors while also seeking to attract potential investors in the country. The announcement was made by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, during the 2019 USA-Nigeria Business and Investment Summit held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Adebayo who was represented by the Director of Infrastructure Investment and Policy Matters, Olajide Bamidele, said that Nigeria is committed to addressing issues of corruption, political instability, and insecurity in the country. He said that the government was fully aware of the challenges in the country’s investment and business environment and was making concerted efforts to tackle them. Speaking further, Adebayo highlighted various reform initiatives by the government to further ease the country’s business environment and protect investments. While stating that Nigeria’s improvement in the latest World Bank ease of doing business index, which has seen the country move 15 steps upward, was evidence of government’s efforts, he said the summit was timely, as it came amid the implementation of the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). Adebayo also stated that the United States was key among 20 nations identified as critical to the actualization of the ERGP, hence the need for deeper economic and business ties between both countries. While commenting during the summit, the Consul General of Nigeria in Atlanta, Aishatu Musa, urged Americans to invest in Nigeria saying it was a wise choice to make.

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The entire issued share capital of Dangote Flour Mills (DFM) has been delisted from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), effective Monday, 18 November 2019. The development was announced by the Nigerian bourse through a statement issued on the NSE website. This is coming after the shareholders of Dangote Flour Mills Plc endorsed the acquisition of the company by Crown Flour Mills Limited, the Nigerian subsidiary of Olam International Limited. The acquisition was carried out through a Scheme of Arrangement just as many shareholders of Dangote Flour Mills supported the company’s management for the decision. Consequent to this acquisition, trading in the shares of Dangote Flour Mills Plc has been fully suspended by the NSE and the firm officially delisted from the exchange.

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Nigeria received $5.36 billion capital importation (inflows) in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019, compared to $5.82 billion in the second quarter (Q2). This is the lowest amount of capital importation received in the year. According to the latest capital importation data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the $5.36 billion capital importation in the third quarter represents a -7.78% contraction from the total amount ($5.82 billion) received within the second quarter (Q2). Meanwhile, year-on-year, capita inflows rose by 87.99%. In Q3 2019, the largest amount of capital importation by type was received through portfolio investment, which accounted for 55.88% ($2,99 billion) of total capital importation, followed by Other Investment, which accounted for 40.39% ($2.16 billion) of total capital, and then Foreign Direct Investment, which accounted for 3.73% ($200.08m) of total capital imported in Q3 2019.

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Another public hearing on the Finance Act (Amendment) Bill is expected to be held today by the House of Representatives, as reported by. This is the coming days after members of the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives successfully boycotted a joint public hearing over issues surrounding the passage of the Finance Bill. Their reasons for the boycott was likened to a battle of supremacy between the Upper Chamber and the Lower Chamber as the Reps accused the Senate of consistently disrespecting them. The Reps reportedly received the invitation to the joint hearing late on a Sunday evening after news of the hearing had widely circulated to the media. Defending the acts of members of the lower chamber, Benjamin Kalu, Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, noted that their non-appearance at the public hearing was a matter of poor communication. The Finance Bill has four strategic objectives, in terms of achieving incremental but necessary changes to our fiscal laws. These objectives are promoting fiscal equity by mitigating instances of regressive taxation; reforming domestic tax laws to align with global best practices; introducing tax incentives for investments in infrastructure and capital markets; and supporting Micro, Small and Medium-sized businesses in line with our Ease of Doing Business Reforms.

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NYU Stern professor Aswath Damodaran, known as the “Dean of Valuation” for his company analyses, says that Aramco more or less valued their IPO correctly, but that he still wouldn’t invest because of the inherently limited upside as well as the political risk that surrounds the world’s largest oil company. Valuing the company from three different perspectives — dividends, potential dividends, and free cash flow to the firm — Damodaran came up with valuations of $1.629 trillion, $1.648 trillion and $1.672 trillion, all of which are within “shouting distance” of Aramco’s own valuation. On Sunday the state-owned oil company announced an IPO price range of 30-32 riyals, which would value the company at up to $1.7 trillion. This is less than the $2.3 trillion valuations, at the high end, that the company previously fetched. The world’s largest oil company said that it plans to sell a 1.5% stake in the company or about 3 billion shares and that it will begin trading in December on the Saudi stock exchange.

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Signs of excessive financial risk-taking as well as a slowdown in bank profitability are some of the biggest challenges in the euro area, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Wednesday. The eurozone has been struggling to grow in the aftermath of the sovereign debt crisis of 2011. The ECB, which oversees monetary policy across the 19-member region, has adopted several stimulus measures since then to boost the economy. In 2018, the ECB decided to scale back some of that stimulus amid improved data. However, the central bank returned to its easing stance in full force in September this year as prices and growth rates are treading water. Signs of excessive financial risk-taking as well as a slowdown in bank profitability are some of the biggest challenges in the euro area, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Wednesday. The eurozone has been struggling to grow in the aftermath of the sovereign debt crisis of 2011. The ECB, which oversees monetary policy across the 19-member region, has adopted several stimulus measures since then to boost the economy. In 2018, the ECB decided to scale back some of that stimulus amid improved data. However, the central bank returned to its easing stance in full force in September this year as prices and growth rates are treading water. “Downside risks to global and euro area economic growth have increased and continue to create financial stability challenges,” the ECB said in a press release Wednesday. The central bank had already warned in May of “persistent downside risks,” which included global trade uncertainty and the U.K.’s departure from the EU.

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In a short, sharp smack-down, the South African Constitutional Court has rejected an attempt by would-be coal mining company Atha-Africa Ventures to draw it into a controversial plan to mine coal in a highly sensitive protected grassland and water catchment area in Mpumalanga. The company wanted the Constitutional Court to grant it leave to appeal against a Supreme Court of Appeal decision not to hear its challenge to a lower court judgment that blocked the mining proposal. This judgment related to a decision taken in 2016 by then Environmental Affairs minister the late Edna Molewa and then Mineral Resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane to quietly grant Atha-Africa permission to develop its proposed 15-year Yzermyn underground coal mine within the Mabola Protected Environment in Mpumalanga. This 8,772-hectare protected area was formally proclaimed in January 2014 under the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act because of its ecological sensitivity as a high-yielding, highly strategic water catchment area within a high-altitude, threatened grassland ecosystem. But the two ministers' controversial decision was reversed when a coalition of eight non-government environmental and social justice groups opposing the mining brought a successful review-and-rescind application in the North Gauteng High Court.

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Kenya's National Treasury is planning to buy out Air France-KLM, local banks and more than 80,000 individual shareholders from Kenya Airways and delist the national carrier from the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). Transport Principal Secretary Esther Koimett told parliament that the buyout plan comes after the House voted in July to nationalize Kenya Airways and save it from mounting debts. The Transport ministry is working with the International Finance Corporation to recruit a technical expert to conduct a fresh valuation. The loss-making airline is 48.9 percent government-owned, 38.1 percent (lenders), 7.8 percent (Air France-KLM), 2.4 percent (Kenya Airways employees) and 2.8 percent (individual investors). She added that the technical expert will be hired before Christmas festivities and that the government targets to close the buyout by end of next year, setting the ground for its delisting from the NSE where the national carrier was listed in 1996 through a privatization plan. Kenya Airways shares have plunged 81 percent at the Nairobi bourse to Ksh2.72 (2 US cents), valuing the carrier at Ksh15.45 billion ($145.5 million). The market valuation puts the lenders' stake at Ksh6 billion ($60 million), Air France-KLM Ksh1.23 billion ($12.3 million), Kenya Airways employees Ksh380 million ($3.8 million) and small investors Ksh443 million ($4.43 million). A consortium of local lenders, who acquired 38 percent of the company's equity during the 2017 restructuring, could be paid through government debt, possibly 10-year Treasury bonds, an official at the Transport Ministry said. They converted the Ksh17 billion ($170 million) debt into equity.

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Mr. John Mahama, Former President of Ghana on Tuesday appealed to the Nigeria Government to open up her border so that economic activities can resume in West Africa. Mahama made the plea while delivering the 7th Anniversary Lecture, Investiture into The Realnews Hall of Fame and The unveiling of the Book: Pathways to Political and Economic Development of Africa in Lagos. The title of the lecture is 'Beyond Politics: An Economic Narrative for West Africa'. He said that the total closure of, especially, the Benin border was having a significant toll on many small and medium businesses especially in Togo, Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire that relied on inter-country trade. Mahama said as a former Chairman of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), and Authority of Heads of State and Government, he had an abiding interest in the progress of ECOWAS and its people. The former president noted that the uptake of science and technology in all sectors of our economies would allow Africa to leapfrog its development. He noted that it was not by accident that Nigeria was home to the headquarters of the ECOWAS and the largest economy in West Africa. He noted that Africa need not go through all the stages of industrialization that the developed countries went through. Mahama stated that biotechnology and tissue culture would allow us to multiply agricultural productivity tenfold. He said the use of innovation would allow the continent to increase productivity and free more people from back-breaking labor and allow them to pursue careers in services, tourism, and the arts.

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Chinese automobile maker, Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC Motors) has announced that it is considering setting up an assembly plant in Lagos, Nigeria following the visit of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to the company’s headquarters. Sanwo-Olu has been reportedly touring several companies from one country to the other, in order to look for potential investors in the state’s economy. The Group Chairman of GAC, Zeng Qihong disclosed that the company was already considering expanding its business in international markets and with the Governor’s invitation, the company was optimistic about coming to Lagos. Sanwo-Olu toured the company’s facilities, factories, and development centers before holding a meeting with the company’s management team at Guangzhou, China. In attendance were top management members of GAC Motors, such as the President of the company, Feng Xingya; General Director, Zhang Yuesai; Director for International Business, Yu Jun, and Regional Sales Director for African Region, Kamel Zheng.

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