WASHINGTON/JOHANNESBURG, June 15 (Reuters) – For a South
African telecommunications company, it represented a unique
chance to seize what its chief executive called “one of the most
significant ‘virgin’ mobile opportunities in the world.”

But the location, he added in a memo marked “Strictly
Confidential,” was “no normal country.”

JOHANNESBURG, MAY 21 (Reuters) – South African industrial
group Barloworld expects Chinese and Russian demand for
resources to underpin growth for equipment such as forklifts and
trucks, its chief executive told Reuters in an interview.

Worries about slowing demand from the world’s second-largest
economy have hit commodities and led miners to defer spending
plans. Yet Clive Thompson, head of the $2.3 billion equipment
supply company, said such fears may be overblown.

ADDIS ABABA, May 11 (Reuters) – Flush with cash from oil and
stuck with few options for growth in developed markets, Middle
East investors are increasingly looking to nearby Africa.

While the fast-growing continent offers plenty of
opportunities, bankers say there are also a raft of challenges
for Middle East investors, particularly due to the relatively
small size of potential deals.

ADDIS ABABA, May 11 (Reuters) – Pan-African lender United
Bank for Africa (UBA.LG: Quote, Profile, Research) has shelved its plans for a $500
million Eurobond as it focuses on strengthening its existing
businesses, its chief executive said on Friday.

“What we’re doing right now is just to consolidate the
business,” Phillips Oduoza told Reuters on the sidelines of the
World Economic Forum on Africa in Addis Ababa.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Africa is the next big thing, just ask Bob Geldof and other private equity bankers.

The Irish rocker made headlines in February when he announced the launch of his $200 million “8 Mile” fund, a sign the Live Aid organizer had turned from promoting debt forgiveness to private enterprise.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is pushing transaction banking in Africa and plans to add 50 new staff in Nigeria over the next five years, as it targets growing demand for trade finance from African firms, its head for the region said on Thursday.

John Coulter, JPMorgan’s senior country officer for sub-Saharan Africa, also told the Reuters Africa Investment Summit the U.S. bank was aiming to roll out a full branch in Nigeria, with local currency capabilities, by the end of 2013.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Emerging markets private equity firm Actis is looking to invest around $300 million annually in Africa, with much of that earmarked for bigger markets such as South Africa, the firm’s co-head for the region said on Tuesday.

John van Wyk also told the Reuters Africa Investment Summit that even with increasing competition in African private equity, the fast-growing continent still offered strong returns.

HARARE/JOHANNESBURG, April 16 (Reuters) – Nicknamed “Tyson”,
Zimbabwe Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere doesn’t shrink
from a fight when it comes to taking on foreign companies that
own mineral rights in his country.

“Somebody has to get them to understand the message,” the
man who has forced global miners to give up majority stakes in
their Zimbabwe operations, told the Reuters Africa Investment
Summit in Johannesburg on Monday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Turkish mobile operator Turkcell (TCELL.IS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) may struggle to make its case against MTN Group (MTNJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in a $4.2 billion legal battle over an Iranian mobile network license that hinges on U.S. human rights law.

Turkey’s biggest mobile firm filed the suit against MTN in a Washington court last month on the grounds that MTN’s significant U.S. business meant the case could be heard there.

JOHANNESBURG, April 10 (Reuters) – Turkish mobile operator
Turkcell (TCELL.IS: Quote, Profile, Research) may struggle to make its case against MTN
Group (MTNJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research) in a $4.2 billion legal battle over an Iranian
mobile network licence that hinges on U.S. human rights law.

Turkey’s biggest mobile firm filed the suit against MTN in a
Washington court last month on the grounds that MTN’s
significant U.S. business meant the case could be heard there.