STANBIC TURNS 20

The Voice: "“Stanbic Bank is very proud of its association with Botswana. It has been a very exciting 20 years for the Bank in this market, and we are satisfied with our growth in this period. We have developed into a mature and profitable entity, and it is our hope that the Bank will continue to make a positive impact in the lives of our clients,” attested the Stanbic Bank Managing Director Leina Gabaraane."

Choosing Your Forex Broker - Five Things To Consider

 Blog Tim EA Fx: "If you decide to trade forex, you will have plethora of brokers to choose from. This very fact leads to the confusion. Choosing the best broker is a little tricky. It is a fierce market. Different brokers will come up with variety of ideas to attract more and more traders. You should not choose the broker based on the attractive schemes but on the basis of the few fundamental factors which are very important. If you combine those with any schemes, it will be the icing on the cake."

RAVOS retrenches staff

RAVOS retrenches staff: "Effectively the staff compliment has surpassed the student population since there will be no intake this year," he said. He said the downsizing could have ended in February but management said that they did not have capital to cover staff benefits. He said they gave them an extension, and the process should be complete in March. The staff will be given benefits that they are legally entitled to and two months' salaries.

Tata Shuns Coal for Clean-Energy Projects in Chase for Growth

Tata Power Co. (TPWR) bid for its first overseas wind and solar farms in South Africa with Pretoria-based Exxaro Resources Ltd. (EXX) this week in a renewable-energy tender whose results will be known by May, said Tata Power Executive Director S. Padmanabhan. He declined to say how much capacity their joint venture Cennergi is seeking, citing auction rules.
Tata Group, which owns Corus Group and Jaguar Land Rover, is focusing on new clean-energy investments as coal-powered projects face fuel shortages in India and environmental hurdles in the U.S. and Europe, he said. South Africa, where average power prices almost tripled in four years, is a “prime market for development” because of its size and abundant clean-energy resources, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
“Why would anyone want to invest at this stage in a coal project?” Padmanabhan said in an interview in Mumbai yesterday. “Investment has stopped.”
South Africa’s auction of 3,725 megawatts of renewable- energy capacity drew Suzlon Energy Ltd., (SUEL) India’s largest wind- turbine maker, in an earlier round. Suzlon Chairman Tulsi Tanti said in November the company may build a factory there if Africa’s largest economy generates enough demand.
Tata Group accounts for almost 5 percent of India’s gross domestic product and has built a global business spanning steel, cars and drinks by acquiring Corus, Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Group Plc. Its overseas clean-energy investments include stakes in two geothermal projects in Australia and Indonesia with Sydney-based Origin Energy Ltd. (ORG)

Chinese tussle over P1.5bn tender

According to PPADB Tender No: PR 10/1/3/8-V, the Ministry of Minerals Energy and Water Resources had approved Sinohydro/CMC JV as the preferred bidder and Consolidated as the reserve bidder on the tender for the construction of the North-South Carrier 2 Water Transfer Project through an Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC).
Major Sinohydro projects Dikgathong dam: P1.13-billion
Lotsane dam: P41m
Kang/Hukuntsi: P536 million
SSKA Airport construction: P550m
Major Consolidated Co projectsKolobeng river bridge: Manyana. P13, 887,847.92.
Sekoma-Kokotsha road: P146,94, 617.67
Mahalapye road:  P186,534,881.82.
Mopipi/Rakops road: P98,102,025.00
Mosopa River Crossing: P17,450,393.73.

Alliance Media wins airport advertising tender

Alliance Media wins airport advertising tender: Alliance Media Botswana, Botswana's largest billboard company has been awarded the contract for the exclusive indoor and outdoor advertising concession at Botswana's newly built Sir Seretse Khama International Airport.

The Alliance Media Botswana team at the newly constructed airport
The award followed a rigid tender process where the company was successful over both Primedia and Continental media, as well as other local players. Alliance Media had previously held the advertising concession in the old terminal building and their strong historic performance to the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana contributed to the award. Alliance Media is widely known as Africa's largest airport advertising company, and holds the advertising concession to over 50 airports on the continent.

State incorporates new diamond trading firm

Government has formed a new private diamond trading company that will purchase, market and sell the 10 to 15 percent portion of Debswana production that the state is entitled to through the new marketing agreement signed with De Beers last year. Styled Okavango Diamond Trading Company, the new company is expected to independently auction an estimated $300 million (P2,250 million to $350 million (P2,625 million) worth of diamonds on the open market per annum from Debswana's average $3 billion-a-year supply. In his Committee of Supply speech to Parliament this week, the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe said his ministry had completed the incorporation of the private company, which is wholly owned by government.
 "The interim board of directors of the company has been appointed and the appointment of Chief Executive Officer will follow suit immediately as the potential candidate to set up the company has already been identified," Kedikilwe said.

Debswana announces board changes

Mmegi: "Debswana is 50-50 joint partnership between the Botswana government and De Beers. In the rotation arrangement, the permanent secretary to the president, Eric Molale who has been a Debswana director since 2003, has come back as chairman of the board with Nicky Oppenheimer as his deputy. Molale previously chaired the board in 2008-2009. The chairmanship of the board rotates every two years between the two shareholders.In other changes, Gareth Mostyn and Bruce Cleaver have been appointed as directors of the company by the shareholders. Mostyn was recently appointed the new De Beers chief financial officer. Cleaver is the director, strategy and new business at De Beers. Other members of the Debswana board include; S.H. Brennan, P.J.C. Mellier, L.K. Mohohlo, Dr. A.L. Molokomme, D.N. Moroka, B.B. Paya, S.M. Sekwakwa and L.R. Smart,"

Copper and nickel refining - Botswana's dilemma

Mmegi: "These so-called resource nationalists argued that the old model of African growth which has basically remained unchanged since the 19th century cannot work. This model is based on the country exporting unprocessed raw materials - from ivory to diamonds to gold, all being sent down to the coast and exported to Asia and Europe where they are further processed.
In this model, the jobs and much of the value added disappeared and while Botswana got government revenue and temporary growth and prosperity, it did not get a fundamental transformation of its economy. The problem has always been that economics and trade law stacked up against those who try to give investors a reason to process those resources here in Botswana.
It took nearly 20 years of pushing for De Beers to finally shift its policy and become an advocate of diamond beneficiation in Botswana. For years people like former cabinet minister David Magang and Permanent Secretary Dr Akolang Tombale fought hard and paid a heavy price professionally in order to create a diamond beneficiation industry in Botswana."

Botswana ranked Africa's preferred mining address

Mmegi: "The country was also highly ranked in terms of corruption, low trade barriers, political stability and low national security risks, as well as fair legal processes, low labour militancy and consistent mining policies.Respondents heaped praise on Botswana and its government, urging other African states to emulate its example. "Botswana encourages and assists project development; it is the jurisdiction other African countries should strive to copy," said one respondent, a president of an exploration company.Another Survey respondent, the managing director of an exploration company, was quoted as saying: "The Botswana Government wishes to improve the lifestyle of its people by optimising its mineral wealth; this is reflected in the policy environment."Surprisingly, the 2011 Survey ranked Botswana strongly in infrastructure, with the majority of respondents either saying existing infrastructure encouraged or was not a deterrent to mining investment.By comparison, higher percentages of respondents cited existing infrastructure as a mild deterrent to mineral investment in regional giant South Africa as well as in Namibia.
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Diamond exports drop 67% in January

Mmegi: "While industry analysts who spoke to BusinessWeek were reluctant to draw conclusions, they said the fact that Firestone's auctions were open meant it was directly exposed to fluctuations in buyers' demand. "De Beers, rather, has contracts binding buyers to supply from its mines and better protecting prices while Firestone's auctions are open," said one analyst. "Rough diamond buyers, who are the cutting and polishing firms, have sensitive financial arrangements and the downturn in Europe is impacting on their access to finance, which in turn lowers their participation in auctions such as those run by Firestone." For 2012, Firestone Diamonds' auctions will be determined by both market conditions in the rough diamond market and production levels at its Lesotho mine."

Letshego loan book hits P3 billion mark

Mmegi: "For the year, Letshego expects profit before tax to be 14 percent higher than the prior financial year, while profit after tax is expected to be 24 percent higher. "Impairment charges remain below two percent of average advances to customers," it said in a statement. "Debt to equity ratio is 34 percent at January 31 2012 with shareholders' funds over P2.3 billion." Letshego fell into troubled waters last year after government announced that it would stop deducting micro loan repayments from source, a development that was certain to impact heavily on the company's repayment recovery rate.
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The year ahead in southern Africa: Parties, politics and potential collapse

The Economist: Botswana, for long the region’s golden boy on account of its sound governance, political stability and healthy economy, also saw some unwonted unrest last year. Public-sector workers staged their first-ever nationwide strike in protest over the government’s pay-restraint policies. But the government refused to budge and the two-month dispute, backed by the main opposition parties, eventually fizzled out, allowing President Ian Khama (pictured, centre) to emerge with his hand strengthened. His main challenge now is to wean the economy off its dependency on its once rich but now fast depleting diamond resources—a task he has already begun.

Resource nationalism in Africa: Wish you were mine

The Economist: Ernst & Young recently suggested that southern African countries such as Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia were becoming increasingly attractive mining destinations at the expense of South Africa, which has slipped 18 places since 2008, to 67th out of 79 countries in the annual survey of mining-investment attractiveness compiled by the Frazer Institute, a Canadian think tank.

Turnstar withdraws cautionary as it completes Mlimani City transaction by The Telegraph Reporter 01-03-2012

Sunday Standard: "“The Board and management are excited about the Mlimani transaction, as it represents a tremendous opportunity, not only to strategically enhance shareholder value and strengthen our competitive market position but also represents a catalyst for the transformation of Turnstar into a Pan-African property champion,” he added.
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BEDIA/ IFSC merger slated to take off in April by Ngonidzashe Dzimiri 01-03-2012

Sunday Standard: “The new umbrella body will consolidate the mandates of BEDIA, IFSC and the Brand Botswana Management Organisation (BBMO) since the three entities are performing related activities of Investment Promotion and Branding,” said Pule.

BEDIA/ IFSC merger slated to take off in April by Ngonidzashe Dzimiri 01-03-2012

Sunday Standard: “The new umbrella body will consolidate the mandates of BEDIA, IFSC and the Brand Botswana Management Organisation (BBMO) since the three entities are performing related activities of Investment Promotion and Branding,” said Pule.

Bedia, BOBS make businesses more export ready

The Monitor: Their clients would access the international market without having to face tariffs related to standardisation, Nthekela noted. "We had a problem of our investors being charged at the border and they were often limited by tariffs related to standardisation," he said. "By this MoU, our clients will have easy access to international markets without being limited by international standards requirements."

Govt starts repaying loans on unfinished aviation projects

Mmegi: Analysts said the start of repayments on unfinished projects was a double blow for public finances, being a preventable leak of resources that could be deployed elsewhere."The repayments are done from the same treasury from where funds will be sourced for the cost overruns," said one public finance analyst who requested anonymity.

"The net effect is the duplication of expenditure on a single project, which is an example of inefficiency in public finance management."

The analyst added that when the loans were awarded, the return on the projects was supposed to have aided repayment.

"But at the moment, even before returns can be made on the project, we are already paying and this is because of poor project implementation," said the analyst.

"This situation is worse when you take into account the fact that government is prioritising net return projects. In addition, the fact that the cost overruns are drawn from the development fund mean less funds for more deserving infrastructural projects."

FNB's Non-Interest Income Up 31%

The Monitor: "We have appointed a fulltime head of ATMs and the division has performed very well," she said. "Our ATM transactions volumes has risen and the uptime has also increased from 92 percent to 97 percent and this, along with other new products, has significantly contributed to our non-interest income." The rise in the number of ATMs is not only expected to reduce the amount of time that customers spend queuing up in branches but also provide wider banking service access across the country.

Botswana gets P42m agric loan

Mmegi: "With the low level of productivity, agricultural production in Botswana is highly subsidised by the government," the statement noted.

"The project will contribute to improved food security and livelihoods in rural communities and decrease reliance on subsidies to promote farming as a viable business." The signing of this project marks a renewed collaboration between IFAD and the government of Botswana, which is providing approximately $19 million, after a 16-year hiatus.

BoB offers lifeline to commercial banks

Mmegi: "We expected the fall in yields and we knew we would take follow-up steps to stabilise the yield," he said in response to BusinessWeek questions.

"Under the reverse repurchase agreement, banks that have liquidity after the auction come back and we are able to give them BOBCs for that. By doing so, we therefore support the lower part of the range of yields."

He decried the over-reliance on BOBC interest income by banks. "We have said the BOBCs should never have been seen as an investment and this (deposit rate slide) is emblematic of that position," he said.

"They see this as an investment instrument where they can put money and pay for the interest on deposits. The problem is that to the extent that this instrument was set up for a particular purpose, it can be changed.

"In November, we said our decision was meant to encourage banks to look for other opportunities to earn good rates on investment opportunities and pay deposit interest rates. It therefore must not follow that they have to slash deposit rates."

Tati Nickel battles for longer lifespan

The Monitor: “As part of an intensive exploration programme, drilling was performed in the northern flanks of Phoenix deposit and models of Phoenix and Selkirk ore bodies were actualised,” he said at a recently ended Mining Indaba in Cape Town.According to Panov, proven reserves at Phoenix amount to 245,600 tonnes of nickel, which would extend TNMC’s lifespan further. In addition, progress has been made on resurrecting Selkirk Mine, with production from there expected to take Tati Nickel to 2023.

Turnstar deal in Tanzania drives BB Botswana’s boldest move into Africa yet

Sunday Standard:
“Two years ago, a decision was taken at Barclays to enhance internal expertise. There are many new people inside the bank who are easily the top talent on the local market. This latest transaction is proof that Barclays has become thought leaders on corporate transactions.”

He said the size of the transaction also went a long way to demonstrate that Barclays Bank Botswana was well capitalized.

Because of exposure to currency fluctuations and cross border uncertainties, a decision has also been made to hedge the transaction to the United States Dollar.

When it is complete, the Mlimani City will boast High end residential houses, a world class conference facility, a shopping mall as well as office space. The City will be built adjacent to a university campus.

The transaction execution date is tomorrow (Monday).

“It is important to point out that this was an open bid. It is not like Barclays Bank Botswana got any preferential treatment,” said Mogami.

The bank was appointed through the independent advice tendered by Investec South Africa.
“It is a pretty bold move to go with a deal of this quantum with a client who is not even your traditional customer. It goes to also show our faith in the fundamentals underlying Turnstar Holdings as a business. Any deal of this magnitude is ideally syndicated, but we were confident of the promoters behind Turnstar Holdings,” said Mogami.

He continued that the fact that the Bank of Botswana has approved the deal also went a long way to show that Barclays Bank Botswana had got its fundamentals right.

“The regulator also approved the deal thereby attaching a seal of confidence on our ability to handle this deal alone,” he said.

For his part, the Managing Director of Turnstar Holdings, Jacob Motlhabane, said the directors of Turnstar look forward to the conclusion of the transaction and the amalgamation of Mlimani into the Turnstar Holdings Group.

“We are grateful for the support from our existing and new shareholders, who have enabled us to accomplish such an extraordinary milestone in the history of Turnstar. The Board and management are excited about the acquisition of Mlimani, as it represents a tremendous opportunity, not only to strategically enhance shareholder value and strengthen our competitive market position but also represent a catalyst for the transformation of Turnstar into a Pan-African property champion. We are thrilled to expand our presence into one of the strongest growing markets in Africa with a truly unique asset that is the premier retail destination in Tanzania. With the innovation and leadership of the Turnstar Board and the dedication and hard work of our employees, we are confident that the acquisition will be seamlessly integrated into our business,” said Motlhabane
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StanChart camps out at the securitisation BISTRO – Part 1

FT Alphaville: "The transaction is called “synthetic securitisation”. The bank buys protection on the credit risk of part of its own loan portfolio, sold by outside investors. They transfer the risk but the loans themselves physically remain on Barclays’ balance sheet.

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BOB maintains lending rate

Weekend Post: "“The current state of the economy and the inflation forecast, suggest that maintaining the prevailing level of interest rates is consistent with the achievement of the Bank’s 3 - 6 percent inflation objective in the medium term,” the bank said in a statement.

“Going forward it is expected that the non mining Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be below potential in the medium term and will therefore moderate inflationary pressures”, further reads the statement.

Domestic output is estimated to have increased at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the year to September, 2011, reflecting an increase of 6.8 percent for non mining sectors while mining output fell by 1.7 percent."

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RPC Data forecasts return to profit

Weekend Post: "“Elimination of intercompany deficiencies, improved debt collection techniques and improvement of treasury management initiatives have resulted in maintenance of a strong balance sheet position”, a statement accompanying the half year results reads.

The company’s newly appointed managing director Robert Pool also announced that the group is finalising the closure of its subsidiaries in Zambia, Uganda and India as it looks to the second half of the year for improved results.

“Statutory requirements are being undertaken to finalise the closure of these branches in the respective countries,” a joint statement signed by the acting chairman, Emeldah Mathe and managing director Robert Pool reads."

Rand gets its second facelift at age of 51

Business LIVE

"The process of redesigning banknotes normally takes between 12 and 24 months," said the bank's head of strategy and communications Hlengani Mathebula.

"The governor of the Reserve Bank appoints a committee to manage the development of the new note series.

"Members of the committee are selected from different functional departments in the bank. The development processes are done in different stages with the involvement of external and internal stakeholders," said Mathebula.