Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 17 September 2018

Mon Sep 17 09:39:33 CAT 2018

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 17 September 2018

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*  Egypt signs oil, gas exploration deal with Shell, Petronas worth about $1 bln: statement

*  Congo will declare cobalt and other minerals as "strategic" in coming days - mines minister

*  Nigeria fraud agency visits Standard Chartered's Lagos office

*  IMF says Kenya's external position is strong as standby deal expires

*  Anglo American asks Angola for permission explore for metals

*  Brazil's BTG Pactual may keep Petrobras Africa stake -source

*  South African rand enjoys strong week as Moody's turns more upbeat

*  Investec asset management spin off plan lifts shares

*  Bharti Airtel picks banks for London flotation of Africa business - sources

*  Nigeria's inflation rate rises for first time in a year and a half

*  Amazon investigates staff bribery claims

*  Salesforce billionaire Marc Benioff to buy Time magazine

*  UK growth forecast trimmed by British Chambers of Commerce

*  Trump 'orders further China tariffs'

*  The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?

*  The day Lehman Brothers went under

*  Elon Musk makes another space tourism promise

*  British Steel to cut 400 jobs worldwide

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Egypt signs oil, gas exploration deal with Shell, Petronas worth about $1 bln: statement

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has signed a deep-water oil and gas exploration deal with Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia’s Petronas worth around $1 billion for 8 wells in the country’s West Nile Delta, the petroleum ministry said on Saturday.

The country also signed a second $10 million deal with Rockhopper, Kuwait Energy and Canada’s Dover Corporation for exploration in the Western Desert, a ministry statement said.

Egypt aims to be a regional hub for the trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after a string of major discoveries in recent years including Zohr, which holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

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Congo will declare cobalt and other minerals as "strategic" in coming days - mines minister

KOLWEZI, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - The prime minister of Democratic Republic of Congo will sign a decree in the coming days to designate cobalt and other minerals as “strategic” and therefore subject to higher royalties, Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu said on Saturday.

The change is part of a new mining code, which mining companies including Glencore and Randgold oppose as it axes tax exemptions and hikes royalties and profit taxes. They have been holding out the hope it might be watered down in further negotiations.

The government has not yet formally announced which metals will be classed as strategic in the new code and subject to royalties of 10 percent. Before the code was introduced, companies paid a rate of 2 percent for cobalt.

Addressing a mining conference in the copper and cobalt-mining city of Kolwezi, Kabwelulu said: “in the coming days, you will see the prime minister sign a decree to declare cobalt and certain other substances as strategic.”

Miners of cobalt would have paid a royalty of 3.5 percent under the new code if its designation had stayed the same.

The government considers minerals with the “strategic” designation important for the economic, social and industrial future of the country.

The new code came into effect in June. Companies say its tax hikes and cancelling of 10-year exemptions for existing projects against changes to the previous fiscal and customs regimes breach previous agreements with the government and will deter further investment.

Kabwelulu said all companies were paying the royalties and taxes as stipulated by the new code, despite Randgold saying in August it was still negotiating with the government. [nL5N1V06J0

“I know that Randgold made a statement, but it’s not true,” he said.

Congo is Africa’s top copper producer and the world’s leading miner of cobalt, a mineral which has seen a surge in demand to the manufacture of electric car batteries and mobile phones.

Other major mining companies with investments in Congo include AngloGold Ashanti, Ivanhoe Mines, China Molybdenum, Zijin Mining and MMG.

Nigeria fraud agency visits Standard Chartered's Lagos office

ABUJA (Reuters) - Officers from Nigeria’s financial crime agency visited the Lagos office of Standard Chartered’s Nigerian operations on Friday but left shortly afterwards, the bank said in a statement.

The bank said that the officers had entered the building but then left, adding that there was no reason for them to be there.

Last month Nigeria’s central bank ordered Standard Chartered and three other banks to bring back to the country $8.134 billion that it alleged South African telecoms firm MTN had illegally sent abroad in breach of foreign exchange regulations.

It was not immediately clear whether the move by officers from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was related to that matter.

A spokesman for the agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), declined to comment.

“We are clear there was no basis for this entry, and the law enforcement officials left the building shortly afterwards,” Standard Chartered said.

IMF says Kenya's external position is strong as standby deal expires

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund considers that Kenya’s external position is strong, its representative in Nairobi said on Friday, adding that the Fund would continue to support its reform efforts even though a stand-by loan deal has expired.

Kenya had secured a six-month extension in March of the $989.8 million arrangement. However, the IMF set conditions for a further extension, including the repeal of a cap on commercial lending interest rates which was imposed in 2016, a move that parliament rejected in a finance bill last month.

President Uhuru Kenyatta sent the bill back to parliament on Thursday night, but what happens next regarding the rate cap is not yet clear.

IMF representative Jan Mikkelsen confirmed what the government said on Thursday: that the deal was over.

“The second review of the IMF-supported program has not been completed, and the program will expire today,” he told Reuters. “It should be stressed that Kenya’s external position remains strong and foreign exchange reserves are at a very comfortable level.”

Foreign exchange reserves stood at $8.56 billion at the end of last week, equivalent to 5.71 months’ worth of Kenyan imports, central bank data showed. The bank is required by law to hold reserves worth a minimum of four months of import cover.

The central bank expected the current account deficit to shrink to 5.4 percent of gross domestic product at the end of this year, from 5.8 percent in June, Governor Patrick Njoroge said in July.

Kenyan officials have played down the significance of the expiry of the deal, which was agreed in 2016 to help cushion the economy in case of unforeseen external shocks that could upset the balance of payments. No funds were ever drawn down.

However, Finance Minister Henry Rotich said on Thursday that talks with the Washington-based fund would now focus on the next type of facility Kenya could secure.

“The IMF will continue to support Kenya’s reform efforts through policy advice and capacity development,” Mikkelsen said, without giving more details.

Kamau Thugge, the principal secretary at the finance ministry, had said on Thursday that the expiry would not hurt the economy.

Rotich tried to repeal the rate cap in his June budget, but parliament voted to keep the upper limit while getting rid of a minimum deposit rate it had previously imposed.

The cap was aimed at helping small traders borrow at affordable rates, but has had the opposite effect, with banks saying they cannot price risk to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) properly while the cap is in place.

As a result, lending to the private sector fell from 9.3 percent in 2016 to 2.4 percent last year.

Kenyatta is due to address the nation on Friday, after rejecting the finance bill which also sought to postpone a widely unpopular tax on fuel.

Anglo American asks Angola for permission explore for metals

LUANDA (Reuters) - Anglo American, one of the world’s largest commodities miners, has asked Angola for permission to explore for base metals, the country’s ministry for mines said on Friday.

Anglo, which operates diamond, copper, platinum mines around the world, submitted a letter of intent to invest in the southern African nation’s mining sector, the Angolan Ministry of Mineral Resources and Oil said.

The move makes Anglo American the first mining major to request exploration permits in Angola since President João Lourenço vowed to open up the sector and encourage foreign investment.

Anglo confirmed its interest in an email to Reuters, saying that it fits into its global exploration programme, including prospects in Brazil.

In the midst of healthy commodity prices, miners are cautiously increasing exploration, an activity dismissed for years by the majors as too risky and costly, as they struggle to find suitable assets.

Despite being a major producer of diamonds, mining in Angola is in its infancy, with few commercial operations for other commodities. The government says the country has potential in copper, iron ore and gold.

For base metals, the ministry said the most important geological structures were in the copper belt of Cuando Cubango and Uige – which border Zambia and DRC respectively – as well as Moxico, Cunene and Huíla.

Brazil's BTG Pactual may keep Petrobras Africa stake -source

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s largest independent investment bank Banco BTG Pactual SA may keep its stake in Petrobras Oil and Gas BV (Petrobras Africa) to avoid having to book a loss in a potential sale, one source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

In June, Reuters reported that a consortium led by top oil trader Vitol had entered exclusive talks to acquire PetroAfrica, as the company is known, in a bid estimated to be worth up to $2.5 billion.

State-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, which owns 50 percent of the venture, would be the lead seller in such a deal but BTG’s 40 percent stake and Helios Investment Partners’ 10 percent would also be candidates for sale.

If PetroAfrica were sold at Vitol’s proposed price, BTG would have to book a loss, however, as the bank paid $1.5 billion for its initial 50 percent stake acquired in 2013, according to the source, who could not speak for attribution because the discussions are private.

Although BTG had previously decided in favor of selling the stake, the bank now believes that PetroAfrica, which participates in two deepwater oil exploration blocks off the coast of Nigeria, will start to generate a stable cash flow bringing regular dividends to the bank soon.

BTG would still be willing to sell if Vitol were to raise its bid, the source added.

BTG, Vitol and PetroAfrica did not immediately comment on the matter.

PetroAfrica is one of the last remaining stakes BTG Pactual owns in individual companies. After its founder Andre Esteves was arrested in late 2015 on corruption charges, the bank was forced to shed assets and BTG partners decided to divest illiquid stakes. A Brazilian federal judge acquitted Esteves in July.

Earlier on Friday, newspaper Valor Econômico reported that BTG intended to keep its stake in PetroAfrica, but that no decision had yet been made.

South African rand enjoys strong week as Moody's turns more upbeat

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The rand was on course for gains of more than 2 percent against the dollar this week, despite some profit-taking on Friday, after Moody’s signalled it was unlikely to strip South Africa of its last investment grade credit rating this year.

That marks a turnaround for the South African currency, which has been dragged sharply lower since early August by poor economic data and fears that currency crises in Turkey and Argentina could spark a mass exodus from emerging market assets.

Moody’s lead analyst for South Africa said on Thursday there was “little chance” the country would be downgraded at a rating review scheduled for next month.

Her comments were noticeably more upbeat than a Moody’s research report released after data showed last week that the economy fell into recession in the second quarter.

First National Bank (FNB) analysts said the more positive tone from Moody’s was a rare piece of good news for a country suffering from weak business confidence and policy uncertainty.

The reprieve from Moody’s “will allow South Africa time to address its fiscal imbalances and remain in the Citi World Government Bond Index,” FNB analysts said, referring to the risk that a downgrade could cause South African bonds to be ejected from one of the world’s major global bond indices.

At 1525 GMT the rand was 0.7 percent weaker at 14.8800 versus the dollar. But it was 2.4 percent stronger than its close last Friday after rising for four straight sessions from Monday to Thursday.

Next week investor attention turns to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), which holds a monetary policy meeting on Sept. 20. All bar one of the economists polled by Reuters this week predicted that the SARB would leave its main lending rate at 6.5 percent, as it weighs economic weakness against a pickup in inflation.

On the Johannesburg bourse, stocks ended the week firmer, in line with global markets buoyed by expectations that the United States and China would open new trade talks.

The blue-chip top-40 index strengthened 0.90 percent to 50,441 points, while the broader All-share index was 0.74 percent firmer at 56,582 points.

“We are seeing fairly healthy markets on the back of the trade talks, and the local market seems to be following suit,” said Ryan Wood, equities trader at Independent Securities.

Among Friday’s top gainers, Investec soared almost 10 percent after it announced plans to spin off its asset management unit in a surprise restructuring.

Investec asset management spin off plan lifts shares

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON (Reuters) - Investec cheered investors on Friday with plans to spin off its asset management unit in a surprise restructuring ahead of the departure after four decades of the South African firm’s founder and chief executive.

The plan to float the asset management business on the London Stock Exchange with a secondary listing in Johannesburg follows similar moves by Prudential, Old Mutual and Deutsche Bank as fees fall and costs rise.

Analysts had not expected any major changes a the Anglo-South African financial group, despite the upcoming departure of CEO Stephen Koseff and two other founding members.

Shares in Investec were up 10 percent at 0914 GMT on news of the strategy shift, which Hendrik du Toit, who heads the asset management business and will become its CEO after the demerger, said was needed for the unit to compete.

“If you want to play in the super league, independence wins,” he told reporters on a call, adding Investec’s management were confident the rest of the business could thrive alone.

Independence would give the asset management business, which contributed 24 percent of Investec’s pre-tax operating profit in 2017, greater flexibility to grow, UBS analyst Michael Werner said.

“In theory, there’s less bureaucracy to go through... you know 100 percent of that capital is allocated to you. It makes it a little easier, in terms of more rapidly deploying that capital or at least more rapidly making those decisions.”

Investec Asset Management has 109 billion pounds ($143 billion) in client assets under custody, with offices in London, Cape Town, New York and Hong Kong.

EASY SPLIT

While Investec gave no details on potential valuation, rival listed asset managers in Europe are priced from around 1 percent of assets under management to around 6.5 percent, depending on the asset mix and client type, which influences the fees earned.

Given Investec’s focus on active equity, bond and multi-asset funds, with some higher-margin alternatives, and a mixed retail and institutional client base, a 2 percent to 4 percent of total assets value would translate to $2.8 to $5.6 billion.

Du Toit said that as the business is independently run already there were few difficulties in spinning it out, and there would be talks about whether it would keep the brand.

Alongside Fani Titi, who is Investec chairman, du Toit will serve as joint CEO from Oct. 1 until the completion of the demerger, which is expected in 12 months.

Titi will then run what is left of the group, mainly specialist banking and wealth management, while maintaining a residual stake in the asset management business.

They will replace Koseff, who was instrumental in transforming Investec from a small leasing outfit in Johannesburg into a global investment bank and asset manager with a presence in South Africa, Australia and Britain.

Investec also said that it expected revenue in the six months to the end of September to be moderately ahead of the prior period, despite a technical recession in South Africa and uncertainty in Britain around Brexit.

Bharti Airtel picks banks for London flotation of Africa business - sources

LONDON (Reuters) - India’s biggest mobile carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd has chosen UBS, JP Morgan and Citi to coordinate the London initial public offering of its Africa business, two sources familiar with the matter said.

In February Bharti Airtel Ltd said the holding company for its Africa operations was looking at a potential IPO. The appointment of banks for a London listing is a sign the process is progressing.

Bharti Airtel and the banks declined to comment. The company has not given a timeframe for the listing to happen.

The sources declined to comment on the valuation of the Africa operations but the business represents just over a quarter of the revenue of the listed entity, which has a $20 billion market capitalisation.

Bharti Airtel owns telecom assets in 14 African countries. In the quarter ending June 2018, Africa revenue was 201 billion Indian rupees ($2.80 billion) and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were 68 billion rupees.

Globally the company has almost 460 million customers. In the quarter ending June 2018, it posted revenue of $3 billion with EBITDA of more than $1 billion.

($1 = 71.7900 Indian rupees)

Nigeria's inflation rate rises for first time in a year and a half

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria’s inflation rate rose in August over the previous year for the first time in a year and a half, driven by food prices, the statistics office said on Friday.

The slight jump, from 11.14 percent in July to 11.23 percent in August, curtails an 18-month run of falling rates from a peak of 18.72 percent in January 2017, as President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration battled to keep inflation under control.

Food prices rose 13.16 percent over the previous year, versus 12.85 percent in the previous month.

Now, the main factor to watch is “when and by how much pre-election spending kicks in, pressuring inflation,” said Razia Khan, Standard Charter’s chief economist for Africa.

“For now, we don’t see it in core inflation,” she said.

Nigeria will hold elections in February and March 2019. Typically, the months running up to the vote are a time of heavy spending as politicians campaign and the government tries to complete projects.

Amazon investigates staff bribery claims

Amazon is investigating claims that its employees accepted bribes in exchange for leaking confidential sales data.

Independent sellers were also allowed to delete negative reviews and restore banned accounts for payments of between $80 (£61; €69) and $2,000, according to allegations in the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal said the practice was particularly "pronounced in China".

Amazon said it had "zero tolerance" for abuse of its systems and that it was conducting a "through investigation".

"We hold our employees to a high ethical standard and anyone in violation of our Code faces discipline, including termination and potential legal and criminal penalties," an Amazon spokesperson said.

They added that the company would also take "swift action" against sellers on its site who had "engaged in this behaviour... including terminating their selling accounts, deleting reviews, withholding funds, and taking legal action".

The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?

World's richest man in $2bn charity move

How Jeff Bezos took Amazon to the top

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon's investigation began in May when the firm was tipped off about the practice in China.

The Journal said independent brokers had used Chinese messaging service WeChat to connect independent sellers with Amazon staff.

Around half of the items sold on Amazon now come from third-party sellers, which means the online giant is able to offer a wider variety of items for sale.

Such sellers need to compete with Amazon's own products to get noticed and compete directly with the online giant to get their items higher on search results pages.--BBC

Salesforce billionaire Marc Benioff to buy Time magazine

Time magazine is changing hands once again, nearly eight months after it was sold to US media group Meredith Corporation.

The co-founder of Salesforce.com, Marc Benioff, and his wife are personally buying Time for $190m (£145.3m).

In a statement, Meredith said the Benioffs "will not be involved in the day-to-day operations or journalistic decisions".

The deal could close within a month but must first get regulatory approval.

Mr Benioff - who is chairman, co-chief executive and co-founder of the cloud computing firm Salesforce.com - said that he and his wife have deep respect for the organisation and its iconic brand.

"The power of Time has always been in its unique storytelling of the people and issues that affect us all, and connect us all," he tweeted.

The Benioffs take over the publication at an uncertain time for print media. Time has cut its circulation and struggled with declining advertising revenues.

Meredith only completed its purchase of parent company Time Inc in January and moved to sell some its most well-known magazine titles soon after.

Mr Benioff, who is worth $6.7bn according to Forbes, is the latest tech figure to acquire a traditional print publication.

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013. Last year, Laurene Powell Jobs, philanthropist and widow of Steve Jobs, acquired a majority stake in The Atlantic magazine.--BBC

UK growth forecast trimmed by British Chambers of Commerce

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has lowered its UK growth forecast, and warns by 2020 the economy will have experienced its second-weakest decade.

The BCC has lowered its GDP growth forecast for 2018 from 1.3% to 1.1% and in 2019 from 1.4% to 1.3%. Its forecast for 2020 is unchanged at 1.6% growth.

The downgrades are driven by a weaker outlook for trade and investment.

Exporters face more subdued growth over continued Brexit uncertainty and slower growth in key markets, it says.

It adds that the high upfront cost of doing business in the UK and the ongoing uncertainty over the UK's future relationship with the EU are expected to continue to stifle business investment.

'Brexit clarity needed'

"Despite strong performances by some firms, the UK economy as a whole is set to grow at a snail's pace," said Dr Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce.

"Brexit uncertainty continues to weigh heavily on many firms, as most of the practical questions facing trading businesses remain unanswered.

"The lack of precision on the nature of the UK's future relationship with the EU is lowering expectations for both business investment and export growth.

"The drag effect on investment and trade would intensify in the event of a 'messy' and disorderly Brexit.

"Businesses need the Brexit negotiations to deliver clarity, precision and results at pace over the coming weeks."

Skills gaps

The BCC says the government must now work to bolster business confidence, slash costs, and encourage business investment.

The labour market is expected to continue to be a source of strength for the economy, with the unemployment rate predicted to remain close to its record low.

But the BCC warns firms will face "significant" skills gaps, undermining their potential to grow.

Meanwhile workers are unlikely to experience meaningful real wage growth as the gap between pay and price growth is forecast to remain negligible.

It says it now sees interest rates reaching 1.25% by 2020.--BBC

Trump 'orders further China tariffs'

US President Donald Trump has instructed staff to move forward with the next round of tariffs on Chinese goods, US media have reported.

The tariffs are expected to apply to about $200bn worth of imports from China, including electronic parts and consumer goods such as handbags.

It remains unclear when the new import taxes - which could be as high as 25% - will go into effect.

Officials are reportedly still working on the final list of products.

President Trump ordered his staff to start preparing the tariffs this summer, escalating a dispute over what the US says are China's unfair trade practices, such as state subsidies.

The new duties would add to tariffs the US has already imposed on $50bn in Chinese goods as part of that dispute, as well as tariffs that China levied on $50bn in US goods in retaliation.

Friday's news reports that Mr Trump has ordered the US to proceed with further tariffs quoted administration sources. There has so far been no formal announcement.

However, Mr Trump has repeatedly signalled his willingness to impose the new duties, despite warnings from economists and widespread opposition in the US among the business community.

US-China trade war: New tariffs come into force

Bikes, cots and fridges: the imports hit by Trump's tariffs

On 7 September, Mr Trump said tariffs on $200bn in goods "could take place very soon" and added that tariffs on a further $267bn in goods were "ready to go on short notice if I want".

The White House and office of the US Trade Representative did not respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg News, which first reported the president's decision, said a public order had been delayed as the administration revises the final list of products.

US stocks sank on the news.

Talks to resolve the matter ended without resolution this spring.

Some in the administration are trying to restart discussions to defuse the trade war, but Mr Trump said on Thursday the US is under "no pressure" to strike a deal.--BBC

The Bezos backlash: Is 'big philanthropy' a charade?

"Great fortunes," the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie is reported to have said, "are great blessings to a community."

No doubt the beneficiaries of multibillionaire Jeff Bezos's new philanthropic fund will agree.

The richest man in the world announced on Thursday that he would give $2bn (£1.5bn) of his fortune to finance a network of preschools and tackle homelessness in America.

But far from being universally applauded, the Amazon founder's pledge was met with fierce criticism.

James Bloodworth, a writer who went undercover to expose working conditions at the company's fulfilment centres, said there was "something slightly ironic" about Mr Bezos's plan.

"There have been credible reports of Amazon warehouse workers sleeping outside in tents because they can't afford to rent homes on the wages paid to them by the company," he told the BBC.

"Jeff Bezos can tout himself as a great philanthropist, yet it will not absolve him of responsibility if Amazon workers continue to be afraid to take toilet breaks and days off sick because they fear disciplinary action at work."

Accusations of hypocrisy flooded in on social media, with many pointing to Amazon's efforts to reduce its tax bill in the US and abroad.

Others highlighted Amazon's recent successful attempt to quash a law in Seattle - the home of the online retailer's headquarters - that was designed to raise millions of dollars to alleviate the city's homelessness crisis.

For his part, Mr Bezos, who is thought to be worth in excess of $150bn, did little to distance his philanthropic efforts from the business model of his company.

"We'll use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon," he said in the statement announcing his fund.

"Most important among those will be genuine, intense customer obsession.

"The child will be the customer."

The Carnegie legacy

Yet the idea that business titans should apply the principles of their boardrooms to the public realm is hardly new.

It was first presented by Andrew Carnegie in 1899, in an essay entitled The Gospel of Wealth.

The magnate - himself once the world's richest man - outlined what he saw as the moral duty of the super rich: "To consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer."

Zuckerberg defends philanthropy plans

What motivates philanthropists?

How giving has evolved

Businessmen, Mr Carnegie argued, were best placed to do said administering.

"The man of wealth thus becoming the sole agent and trustee for his poorer brethren," he wrote, "bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer - doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves."

By the time he died in 1919, Mr Carnegie was estimated to have parted with 90% of his fortune, using it to fund scientific research, pay teachers, build schools and establish more than 2,000 public libraries.

His doctrine became the model for donations by fellow tycoons, including John D Rockefeller, who saw no conflict between their approach to business - in which they built monopolies and crushed labour unions - and their philanthropic work.

It is a model that laid the path for the modern-day benefactions of Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg - whose charitable causes are distinct from the way they run their companies.

At this year's annual meeting of his firm Berkshire Hathaway, Mr Buffett could not have been clearer.

"I do not believe in imposing my political opinions on the activities of our businesses," he told assembled shareholders, when quizzed on whether he would divest from gun manufacturers.

But according to Anand Giridharadas, Mr Carnegie's approach helped give rise to mass inequality.

Mr Giridharadas, whose book Winners Take All tackles the so-called "charade" of modern philanthropy, characterises Carnegie's approach as "extreme taking followed by extreme giving".

The super rich, he argues, stop short of "transforming the system atop which they stand".

While Mr Bezos's donation is admirable, he says, it does not tackle the "deep and complex root causes" of homelessness and poverty in the US - which include Amazon itself, as the firm has been a beneficiary of the new world of precarious employment.

A good motto for the likes of Mr Bezos, he suggests, would be: "Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what you have already done to your country."

The approaches taken by the super rich, says Mr Giridharadas, are less bold than the companies they helped create.

"If you want to wade into public policy, you have a moral responsibility not to put a Band-Aid on cancer," he says, adding that Mr Bezos could work to influence policy instead.

One way in which he could do so is by fighting for a change in the law when it comes to companies' responsibilities to shareholders, and the bottom line - paving the way for corporate structures which sacrifice some profits in pursuit of social good.

Matt Kilcoyne, of the free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, disagrees.

"Quite frankly Bezos's greatest act of philanthropy is Amazon itself," he argues.

"Lower prices, more choice and competition have delivered billions for Bezos and billions worth for the hundreds of millions of customers he serves."

What's more, Mr Kilcoyne dismisses any talk of the super rich's moral responsibility to give in a certain way.

"Jeff Bezos has a right to spend his own money as he pleases.

"Armchair commentators might like to say that they know better than Bezos what he should spend his money on, but they'd do better to try and convince him of their philanthropic cause than chastise him for his choice."--BBC

The day Lehman Brothers went under

Ten years ago, investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in the US. Its UK operations ceased shortly afterwards.

The BBC talked to people involved about their recollections of the bank's collapse, which gave the financial crisis fresh momentum before the worst economic downturn the world had seen since the 1930s.

Natalia Rogoff, worked in international client sales at Lehman Brothers

'Slowly, the anger set in'

We knew when the share price went down - we all went home, it was a Friday night, and we knew we would not see Lehman Brothers as it was.

We stayed up all night checking the wires and Bloomberg and the news hit.

I remember very vividly, I was at a party and we were texting each other, and then this wire hit Bloomberg saying that Lehman in America [had] filed for bankruptcy. And it was something unthinkable.

We started calling each other and emailing everyone, "Did you see the news?" We had to come in on the Monday, and we faced all the reporters outside.

The first emotion that hit very hard was disbelief. There were no words. You came into the building and [people were saying], "Did you hear?", "Yes", "When did you hear?", "I was up all night", "Yes, so was I", "So, what shall we do?", "Do you think we're going to get paid?", "I don't know".

With news as huge as that, it takes a while to sink in. The bank collapsed, we are still in the building, there is no official news from the management, they are all behind closed doors, there's nothing from the US, everyone disappeared.

And then, slowly, the anger set in.

Not many people know, we were actually coming back to work every day for the next two weeks.

That was an extremely weird experience, because you had no job, the clients were calling, there was nothing to do, people were just walking around, probably not even drinking that much coffee to save some money.

Just on the trading floor, everybody walking, no-one's trading, and the phone's ringing. The clients were ringing all day long, they were wanting to know - where is their money, what's going on?

Nikolay Storonsky, Emilie Bellet, Anil Stocker - former Lehmans workers

Sarah Breeden, executive director for international banks supervision at the Prudential Regulation Authority

'I cycled home as fast as I could'

I work at the Bank of England, and I was heavily involved in the work that we did to handle the consequences of Lehman defaulting back in 2008.

It had been building for some time.

In the UK, if you remember, we'd had Northern Rock get into troubles in the autumn of 2007, that was nationalised in February 2008, and then not long after Bear Stearns, which was the smallest of the US broker-dealers, got into trouble and was rescued by JP Morgan [Chase].

So it wasn't that in September [the Lehman collapse] was a shock, it had been an event that we'd seen coming for some time, and had been trying to get ready for.

On the Sunday, that was when it became apparent that Lehman wasn't going to be rescued - and that was the point that I got involved.

I was cycling in Richmond Park at Sunday lunchtime with my family, got a phone call from Paul Tucker [former deputy governor of the Bank of England] to say, "The US are going to let Lehman's go, I think we'd better get the team in," and it all started from there.

I cycled home as fast as I could, got on the train, and I was in by three o'clock. We got a small team together, and we were here till late, and then obviously we were in first thing on Monday morning.

What we were trying to do was understand who had direct exposures to Lehman. There was all sorts of work going on desperately trying to think what were the immediate consequences, who would be affected, and how that would play out in markets generally.

Jes Staley, current Barclays chief executive

'Terrifying times'

We were working most weekends at that time, because there were concerns not only about Lehman Brothers, but about Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, pretty much the entire investment banking platform.

At that time I was running JP Morgan Asset Management, and we had the second largest liquidity fund in the world, and the single largest investor in that fund was a major sovereign country.

I remember one morning, a couple of days after the Lehman bankruptcy, I got a call from Morgan's London office, basically saying that that large sovereign wanted to withdraw all of their money.

And I remember waking up with the call about 3:30 in the morning, and turning to my wife and said, "This could be a very scary next couple of days."

They were terrifying times. There were a lot of unknowns, it was difficult to understand what was really going on, and Lehman was just one domino in a series of dominoes.

And the overriding thought after the Lehman bankruptcy was: 'Who's next'?

Tony Lomas, former lead PwC administrator for Lehman Brothers in the UK

'It's a big forensic exercise'

I took a phone call on the Saturday evening from the head of legal inside Lehman, who asked me if I would attend a board meeting on the Sunday so they could start to prepare for the collapse of the entity in the event that there was no rescue of the overall group in New York over that weekend.

Well, we went in on the Sunday morning and started to interact with the various accounting staff there to try and establish what the organisational structure was there, what the legal entities were, which legal entities would be in financial difficulty if the parent company filed for bankruptcy.

So, it's a big forensic exercise that day.

On the Monday morning the main legal entity in the UK needed to repay something in the order of $3bn to its trading counterparties, and of course it was dependent upon that cash coming overnight on the Sunday - and it didn't come.

As soon as you're appointed [as administrator], of course, you take control of the whole entity, and the first thing you do is establish what assets it's got, and what liabilities it's got.

And among the assets you're looking for liquid assets so that you can start to pay the bills [that were due imminently]. We needed about $100m, and we couldn't find liquid assets that would realise that in time.

So what we actually had to do was to borrow $100m from a hedge fund, which we did by the close of play on the Wednesday.

The problem here was that an awful lot of counterparties traded with Lehman [but] they didn't identify the Lehman legal entity that they were dealing with.

Lehman in the UK probably did have as many assets as it did liabilities, because we've been in a very fortunate position - we've been able to repay everybody everything they were owed, and that adds up to about £36bn-£37bn.

And we have £8bn left over after that. Now that effectively is what remains of the capital of the UK subsidiary company.--BBC

Elon Musk makes another space tourism promise

Elon Musk's space company says it has signed up the first private passenger to fly around the moon on its huge Big Falcon Rocket (BFR).

SpaceX said the announcement for the BFR was an important step toward everyday access to space.

No details about the timing, cost or the passenger's identity have been revealed before a Monday announcement.

In February 2017, SpaceX said two space tourists had paid substantial deposits for a trip around the Moon this year.

However, the trip is yet to take place and the identities of the tourists have not been revealed.

SpaceX has also not given an explanation for the delay. Industry observers at the time were sceptical about its timetable.

The previously announced trip was scheduled to use its Crew Dragon spacecraft and be propelled by the Falcon Heavy rocket.

The Dragon vehicles are used to transport passengers and supplies to the International Space Station, while the Falcon Heavy rocket made its first flight from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in February.

Musk in the hot seat - again

City-to-city space trips 'in minutes'

The new space race

The Falcon Heavy is currently the biggest and most powerful rocket to leave the earth's atmosphere and has lift-off thrust equal to about 18 jumbo jets at full power.

However, a year ago the controversial entrepreneur, who also founded the electric car maker Tesla, said SpaceX would focus on the BFR to reduce costs.

The BFR is 106m high and 9m wide, while the Falcon Heavy is 70m high and 12m wide.

The latest announcement comes in a turbulent year for Mr Musk. Last week, he could be seen smoking marijuana during a webcast with a US comedian.

Shares in Tesla have had a rollercoaster ride after the entrepreneur said in a tweet last month that he wanted to take the carmaker private, before abandoning the idea about a fortnight later.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is reported to be examining Tesla but has not officially confirmed an investigation.

Tesla's chief accounting officer resigned after just a month, blaming in part the "level of public attention placed on the company", while its HR chief said she would not return from a leave of absence.

Mr Musk also gave an emotional interview to the New York Times last month, revealing he worked "120 hour weeks" and sometimes took the sleeping pill Ambien.--BBC

British Steel to cut 400 jobs worldwide

British Steel has announced it is to cut 400 jobs from its worldwide operations.

The company, which employs 5,000 people, said the job losses were part of a "streamlining" process.

Most of the redundancies will be in managerial, professional and administrative roles across its businesses in the UK, Ireland, France and the Netherlands.

The Community trade union described the news as "a body-blow to the workforce".

Roland Junck, British Steel's executive chairman, said he was "sad" to be making the announcement.

"However, it's vital our transformation continues so we can build a sustainable future for the whole business, nearly 5,000 employees and many more people in the supply chain," he said.

"We're confident these proposals will help achieve this."

In a statement, the Community union said it recognised the "challenging times for UK steelmakers" and called for government support for the steel industry.

"This announcement will come as a body-blow to the workforce who have already made huge sacrifices to make the business sustainable," the union said.

"It is particularly disappointing the company has chosen to cut jobs so soon after celebrating a second successful year and first quarter profits of £21m."

British Steel was formed in June 2016 after Greybull Capital bought assets from Tata Steel.

The company employs 4,000 people at its Scunthorpe plant and has sites in Teesside, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

It has not yet been confirmed which locations will lose staff.--BBC

INVESTORS DIARY 2018

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Hippo

AGM

Meikles

26/09/2018 12PM

Bindura

AGM

Chapman Golf Club, Eastlea

27/09/2018 9AM

CBZH

interim dividend of 0.5c per share record date

28/09/2018

Hippo

final dividend of 2c per share record date

28/09/2018

Star Africa

AGM

45 Douglas Road, Workington

28/09/2018 11AM

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DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

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