Browsing: Mauritius

• IBL Group, a multinational conglomerate has acquired an undisclosed stake in Harley’s, a pharmaceutical distributor based in Kenya.
• The transaction marks the group’s latest investment in Kenya, following the acquisition of a 26.32-percent stake in Naivas Limited for Ksh12.5 billion (US$100 million) last year.
• IBL revenues for six months ended 31 December 2022 increased by 24 per cent to Rs 27.06 billion. Operating profit for the Group has increased to Rs 1.99 billion from Rs1.65 billion in 1H2022, representing a growth of 20 per cent.

Mauritian conglomerate Ireland Blyth Limited (IBL) has bought an undisclosed stake in Nairobi-based pharmaceuticals distributor Harley’s as part of a consortium that has taken control of the company.

This marks the latest investment in Kenya for IBL which last year acquired a 26.32 per cent stake in supermarket chain Naivas Limited for US$100 million (Sh12.5 billion) also as part of a consortium, underscoring the group’s …

• Tropical storm Ana in January 2022 affected 180,869 people, injured 207 people, killed at least 38 people and flooded a total of 70,982 hectares of land.
• In two weeks, Madagascar, the most cyclone exposed country in Africa, experienced both Ana and Batsirai cyclones.
• The strength of Cyclone Batsirai could increase and spread to other countries in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Several cyclones, from Cyclone Ana, Batsirai, Idai, Eloise, Kenneth and Tropical Storm Chalane, have tormented the southern part of the African continent – from South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
A cyclone is a tropical storm with heavy winds rotating inwards to an area of low pressure. An anticlockwise circulation occurs in the northern hemisphere, while a clockwise circulation happens in the southern hemisphere.
The frequent occurrence of these storms indicates the heightening effects of climate change in the southern region of Africa and the world at large. …

The agency also asked people to stay away from the missing monkeys and immediately call 911 whenever they saw any of them.

Animal rights activists in the US heavily criticized the crash. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and an animal rights group contacted Kenya Airways chief executive, Allan Kilavuka, and the chairman, Michael Joseph, showing dissatisfaction over the treatment of monkeys.

PETA prompted KQ to reconsider subjecting the monkeys to long flights and immediately taking them to laboratories for experiments because that could cause them torture and even lead to their death.…

In a country with a population of 32.2 million, its Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the South Africa Nation has been in decline since 2013 due to political uncertainty and falling commodity prices. However, the fact that inward investment has remained steady throughout the Covid-19 Crisis, coupled with the country’s abundance of liquefied natural gas (LNG), demonstrates potential for increased inflows going forward.

Mozambique Offshore Finds

Mozambique’s offshore natural gas discoveries in the Rovuma basin since 2009 have been nothing short of prolific. It has changed the fortunes of one of the world’s least-developed countries

They are now valued at approximately 50 times the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

While these gas fields are still under development, data from fDIMarkets– a branch of the Financial Times Group that collects and tracks FDI projects around the world – suggest that foreign companies moved in right after the first discovery in …

Lesotho has finalized a new tax treaty with Mauritius, alleviating fears in the southern African nation that multinational corporations were dodging taxes through shell companies.

The new agreement, which sets out the taxation rules for companies that run Lesotho businesses from Mauritius, came into effect replacing a 1997 treaty that, in recent years, the Lesotho authorities complained was unfair.

“The process for renegotiating the treaty was initiated by Lesotho in recognition that the old treaty was compromising Lesotho’s interests and because some of the key elements of a modern tax treaty were missing,” according to a brief provided to ICIJ by the Lesotho Revenue Authority.

Lesotho, a tiny, mountainous kingdom of 2 million people surrounded by South Africa, is rich in diamonds but has a stubbornly high rate of poverty. Almost half the population live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

In recent years, Lesotho’s economic performance …

Mauritius is the latest example. Just this Saturday, a grounded oil tanker, MV Wakashio, started spewing tonnes of oil into the Indian Ocean and as the norm on the continent, the country is ill prepared to respond.

Africa needs to do a much better job in disaster preparedness. The continent cannot and must not continue to operate on status quo basis, as though no emergency is bound to occur at some point.

The natives of Mauritius are left to device makeshift emergency responses in this case using ‘stuffed fabric sacks with sugar cane leaves to create makeshift oil spill barriers as tonnes of fuel leaking from a grounded ship put endangered wildlife in further peril…’ wrote Al Jazeera.

So, humans on the ground can take some sort of action but what of the marine life?  Most of which mark you, is endangered coral reef species.

Greenpeace says the fuel and …

Pan African private equity company Convergence Partners has announced that it has acquired all the operations of telecommunication giant Vodacom Business Africa through its digital service provider platform, inq. Holdings Limited (formerly Synergy Communications) based in Mauritius.

Vodacom Business Africa is an enterprise-focused ICT subsidiary of the Vodacom Group. With over US$300mn of capital under management, Convergence Partners brings its skills, experience and capital to develop new investment opportunities as well as actively adding value to investments across the lifecycle of ICT assets.

The 100% acquisition of Vodacom Business Africa’s operations will be effected in Nigeria, Zambia and Cote d’Ivoire with a further planned acquisition in Cameroon pending regulatory approvals.

This transaction grows inq.’s regional footprint as a leading enterprise solutions provider to 13 cities in 7 countries across Africa including its existing operations in Botswana, Malawi and Mozambique.

Under the inq. banner the company will embark on the next …

The Kenyan retail market has not been very kind for foreign investors. Botswana’s Choppies Supermarket came with a promise of adding a sparkle to an industry that was adapting to the advent of online shopping in Kenya.

At that time, Nakumatt Supermarket- the most profitable and successful store in East Africa was in deathbed and the sector was looking for the new supremo. It did not go so well for the South African retailer and it has been riddled with debts and poor sales.

Another South African outfit, Game has struggled to make an impact with just a few stores. The only foreign store that has a greater impact in the Kenyan market is Carrefour which has grown from a single store to taking over space formerly occupied by Nakumatt.

The remaining local supermarket chains have had to come up with innovative ways to stay afloat in a sector that …

Bowmans Law firm, a leading pan African legal entity specializing in business deals, merger and acquisitions (M&A) is set to launch its base in Ethiopia and Mauritius at the beginning of October 2019. The move is seen as an expansion of the company to two countries where FDIs have remained high coupled with financial growth.

Bowmans is opening a fully-fledged office in Mauritius, having joined forces with FirmWise, a local firm that specialises in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, investment funds, tax, compliance and private equity.

Robert Legh, chairman, and senior partner, says ‘This move, which is effective from 1 October 2019, is an investment in the ambitions and success of our clients across Africa. Mauritius and Ethiopia are key jurisdictions for many of our clients and our presence on the ground there will help us to better support them.’

The law firm already has a presence …

Hawassa Industrial park sits 140 miles south of Addis Ababa. The park was built by China Civil Engineering Corporation in 2016 and has so far attracted several international companies. The park is part of a long-term vision to grow Ethiopia into a production hub. It houses factories including textile and agro-processing and has 25,000 employees producing garments.

In the last 5 to 6 years, the textile, and apparel industry have grown at an average of 51% and more than 65 international textile investment projects have been licensed for foreign investors, during this period.

According to the World Investment Report, Ethiopia is one of the top-performing African countries in FDI flow, especially in the textile sector. The government of Ethiopia believes that textile would help the nation to join middle-income status in 2025. As the way forward, the Ethiopian government has been building industrial parks at different cities of the country …