Given these enabling circumstances, KKR offered to buy out RJR and reorganize the business and optimize value from its operations. This initial attempt was not warmly received, and RJR sought other investment companies to purchase it. What then ensued was what members of the investment community call putting the company in play.

This describes a scenario where one company is actively pursued by several suitors who desire to purchase it. In the end KKR triumphed albeit having paid a massive premium for the company. Unfortunately, the company did not realize the gains that it had envisaged it would.

The Nabisco operation of the company was spun off into a separate entity and the tobacco interests were also kept separate. All the gains the company anticipated it would make were swallowed up by tobacco lawsuits so that by 1994 the KKR had all but written off its investment in RJR Nabisco.…

M-Pesa is on course to become a US$1Bn business.

Safaricom Plc (NSE: SCOM) released its interim results on 10th November announcing a 12.1% year-on-year (y/y) rise in 1H22 net earnings. Combing through its numbers against our estimates, its net earnings per share print (KES0.92) outperformed our expectation of KES0.85. The outperformance was primarily driven by lower than forecasted cost environment. Direct costs came in at KES44.5Bn (+20.3% y/y), beating our forecast of KES49.2Bn, while operating costs came in at KES23.4Bn (+10.3% y/y) outperforming our forecast of KES29.6Bn.  

M-Pesa revenues printed at KES52.3Bn (+45.8% y/y), against our forecast of KES55.9Bn. Behind the strong y/y growth, total transaction value grew 51.5% y/y to KES13.7Tn with volumes up 42.0% y/y to 7.3Bn. Two other factors were at play in the revenue performance: The lapse of zero-rated transactions (as expected) and a 31.3% y/y rise in 30-day active M-Pesa average revenue per user …

Because outside of the governments, politicians, civil servants, lobbyists and pressure groups that thronged the Conference there is a cohort of entrepreneurs that are passionate about reversing climate change, that have fantastic commercially viable and innovative ideas, but who require funding and strategic support to make these ideas a reality.  

And so I want to suggest that as well as taking personal responsibility for our carbon footprint and doing all that we can to minimise our negative impact on Planet Earth, we should also be investing in line with environmental, social and governance principles at all times – and ensuring that 20% of our investments in 2021/22 should be directly targeted at investments that will have a positive environmental impact. …

The scope of green finance is broad and encompasses initiatives taken by both public and private entities such as financial institutions, governments and international organizations in developing and supporting sustainable impacts through key financial instruments which lay the foundations of sustainable business models and investments.
Projects that fall under the green finance umbrella include the reduction of industrial pollution and lowering the carbon footprint, climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, promotion of renewable sources of energy plus energy efficiency, circular economy initiatives, sustainable use of natural resources and many more.
For Africa to tackle the climate menace, it needs concerted efforts from all the above parties for desired outcomes to be reaped. …

In 1991, Ethiopia was among the poorest in the world having endured a devastating famine and civil war in the 1980s and by 2020 it was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world averaging 9.9 per cent of broad-based growth per year.
The GERD will help secure the future water supply not only in the Nile Basin but in the entire region, thereby curbing the occurrence of severe drought and famine.
The flow of the River Nile has been nothing but winding, peacefully meandering its way downstream, oblivious of the decade-old tension that besieges its much-needed waters.
Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are neighbours that have been embroiled in a row over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile causing a diplomatic standoff among the countries.
Being the longest river in Africa, the Nile bears paramount significance across several African nations that …

While others are still skeptical around the world, crypto currency is not only taking root in Africa but is now starting to bear fruit. The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced it launching its own national digital currency, the eNaira.

This announcement makes Nigeria the first African country to have a central bank-backed digital currency.

Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele says the currency will serve to accelerate financial inclusion in the country of over 213 million people. A lot of African countries are taking only baby steps towards allowing the use of cryptocurrencies and may are warning their public to be wary.

However, Nigeria is proving why it is Africa’s biggest economy with its Central Bank envisioning the crypto option will accelerate financial inclusion and even allow for cheaper and faster remittances.

“This digital money, the cryptocurrency, will allow us to have easier targeted social interventions, as well as help …