Ivory Coast’s wild AFCON win

After some early – and many setbacks – the host nation pulled off one of the greatest tournament victories.

Author

Anthony Miclet
February 14, 2024

Good morning. Africa lost one of its finest bankers over the weekend to a helicopter crash in the US. Herbert Wigwe, the former CEO of Nigeria’s Access Holdings, will be replaced in the interim by Bolaji Agbede.

In other top stories from the past week:

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Here are last week’s top stories

Bitcoin rally

The largest crypto hits $50k for first time in over two years

Bitcoin surged past the $50,000 mark for the first time since 2021 on Tuesday, driven by anticipation of interest rate cuts in the US and approval of ETFs. The cryptocurrency has seen a 16.3% increase since the start of the year.

A newly established East African Bond Exchange (EABX), poised to become a competitor to the Nairobi Securities Exchange, prepares to commence operations in the first half of this year.

Oil clung to gains despite inflation rising more than expected in January. The consumer price index increased 3.1% on an annual basis compared with the 2.9% that was expected. Gold remains under pressure as sticky US CPI data suggests interest rates will stay high.

Investor appetite

Benin’s first-ever Eurobond oversubscribed by more than 6x

Benin's inaugural dollar bond offering saw overwhelming demand, drawing $5bn in demand – an oversubscription of more than six times the $750 million on offer.

This bond issuance closely follows Ivory Coast's recent achievement, wherein it raised $2.6bn in an oversubscribed Eurobond auction, fetching rates between 8.5 and 8.75%. 

The robust demand for the 14-year Beninese instrument underscores the enduring appeal of junk-rated issuers and comes as investors seek riskier emerging-market assets amid anticipation of US interest-rate cuts.

Fintech bet

Mastercard to invest $200m on stake in MTN’s fintech unit

Six months following the initial announcement, Mastercard said it will invest $200m in MTN MoMo, the fintech arm of the network giant, for a 3.8% minority stake in the unit.

The deal will see MTN’s fintech valued at $5.2bn on a cash and debt-free basis, excluding any existing cash reserves or outstanding debt.

Mastercard inked a similar deal with Airtel Africa, one of MTN’s competitors in 2021, which saw the India-founded telecom receive $100m for its mobile money business.

Headline roundup

A summary of the major business, tech, and finance headlines of the past week.

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Sebastian Haller emerged as the hero for Ivory Coast as they staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Nigeria 2-1 and clinch their third Africa Cup of Nations title.

The host nation thrilled their fans in Abidjan, with Haller sealing the victory by volleying home the winning goal nine minutes from time, after Franck Kessie had canceled out William Troost-Ekong’s first-half header.

The triumph in the final against the Super Eagles marked a significant achievement for the Elephants, especially considering Nigeria's status as heavy favorites and their lineup led by the African Footballer of the Year, Victor Osimhen.

Beyond that, it caps a thrilling turnaround story for Ivory Coast – going from best losers to cup winners. Before this year, no team had ever finished third at the group stages and subsequently gone on to lift the trophy.

That marked the perfect end to what many have termed the “greatest AFCON” yet.

Our insight for the week

Get more context into events shaping Africa’s economic landscape.

Big Tech ramps up investments in Africa’s growing cloud market: On February 2nd, Google Cloud unveiled its inaugural cloud region in Africa situated in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Oracle has also disclosed its plans to launch a public cloud region in Nairobi, Kenya, in response to the increasing demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) services throughout Africa. 

The region in Nairobi will mark Oracle's second cloud facility on the continent, following the inauguration of its first region in Johannesburg, South Africa, in January 2022.

The expansion efforts by both Oracle and Google underscore their competition with other major cloud providers, such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, all of whom have established their cloud regions in South Africa in recent years. 

This competition highlights the growing importance of Africa as a key market for cloud services, prompting significant investments from leading tech companies.

Why are ‘Big Tech’ companies in a race to build cloud regions and data centers in Africa?

We provide all the answers in an edition of our Pulse54 newsletter. Tap here to find out.

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