ABN Business Briefs

Private Equity Group Actis Buys Into Tracker
An investment consortium headed by private equity group Actis has bought a stake in vehicle tracking company Tracker from JSE listed investment group Remgro in a deal just under the value of 4 billion rand. Tracker makes equipment used to recover stolen cars.

Naspers Buys Ad Website From Gumtree Founders
South African media and e-commerce group Naspers has bought eastern European classified website Slando for an undisclosed sum. Michael Pennington and Simon Crookall, who created Gumtree's online advertising site, which was sold to EBay in 2005, sold Slando to Naspers' Russian internet arm, Myriad Internet Holdings. Slando has 11 million users in eastern Europe and Russia, and posts adverts ranging from property rentals and sales to dating and jobs.

Zambia's Sata Reverses Sale of Finance Bank to FirstRand
New Zambian President Michael Sata has reversed the $5.4 million sale of the nation's Finance Bank to South Africa's second-biggest lender FirstRand. Sata said that there's no document of sale for Finance Bank and he is directing the Ministry of Finance to take the bank back to its owners immediately. The Zambian central bank said last month that FirstRand would pay $5.4 million for the bank, which it seized from its shareholders last year for violating the law through unsound practices, including insider borrowing.

Diageo Wins Bid to Buy Ethiopia Brewery
Diageo, the world's largest spirits group, has won a bid to buy Ethiopia's last-remaining state brewery, Meta Abo, for $225 million. Wondafrash Asefa, spokesman for the Ethiopian Privatisation and Public Enterprise Supervising Agency said Diageo outbid Heineken, SAB Miller and local group Dashen for the purchase. The London-based company has said it expected 10 percent plus sales and profit growth in Latin America and Africa this year. Heineken, the world's third-largest brewer, won a bid to purchase Bedele and Harar breweries for a combined $163.3 million earlier this year.

Total Kenya Sees Sharp Decline in FY Profit
Fuel marketer, Total Kenya, sees full year profit dipping sharply lower as higher interest rates, a weakening Kenyan shilling against the dollar and the limitations of price caps weigh on the numbers. Volumes are expected to remain flat. For Kenyan oil marketers, the challenges from the macroeconomic environment have been compounded by a move by the regulator in December last year to cap the retail price of oil.

SBM Sees More Growth in Non Interest Outcome
State Bank of Mauritius, the island nation's second-largest bank, sees double-digit growth in non-interest income again this year. Chandradev Appadoo, divisional leader for corporate affairs and finance said this would be helped by its e-commerce platform and strong commissions.

Cote d'Ivoire Announces to Receive $114 Million Loan
Cote d'Ivoire has announced that China's Exim Bank has offered a $114 million loan at two percent interest over 20 years to finance a motorway construction project linking the economic hub Abidjan to the town of Grand-Bassam, 30 kilometres to the east. Finance Minister Charles Koffi Diby said the project was aimed at developing the tourist sector along Cote d'Ivoire's south coast and to ease congestion in Abidjan.

Massmart
Massmart Holdings, the retailer majority owned by Wal-Mart, plans to open 23 new stores in the next 8 months, according to the company CEO Grant Pattison. Massmart has said its expansion will create 15 thousand new jobs in the next three years. The company has also promised to procure R60 billion worth of food and consumer goods mainly from local suppliers over the next five years.

DRC Agrees to Sell stake in CCT
The Democratic Republic of Congo has agreed to sell its 49 percent stake in CCT, the country's fourth largest mobile phone operator, to France Telecom. Jacques Baikpon, chief of staff at the country's telecoms ministry said that the government would receive $64 million from the transaction plus more than $10 million in the form of taxes and other payments. France Telecom is already in exclusive negotiations with Chinese firm ZTE to buy their 51 percent stake in CCT, which has 1.5 million subscribers. Last month France Telecom described CCT as "extremely indebted," adding that any deal would include restructuring the company's liabilities. The company said that the purchase is part of a broader plan to seek growth in emerging markets.

Lonmin
Shanduka has been offered the opportunity to asses the viability of operating and developing Lonmin's Limpopo unit. The capital provided by the deal will enable the world's third largest platinum miner to retain its balance sheet capacity and management focus on growth from its Marikana operations.