East African renewable energy provider M-Kopa Solar has raised US$80mn in commercial debt funding, and the company’s chief executive tells EMEA Finance that more loans are likely at the parent company level.

Societe Generale CIB has appointed Jose Enrique Concejo as global head of its financial institution group (FIG), and the new man in charge tells EMEA Finance that widespread optimism is finally making a return to the banking sector. 

Nigeria has become the first sovereign in Africa to issue a green bond, and hopes are growing that other countries will dip their toe into the region’s nascent market.

Bahrain has issued a defiant response to the downgrades of its sovereign debt by a leading credit ratings agency and the decision by the International Monetary Fund to forecast a slowdown in economic growth.

The Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) took a novel step when it went to the international bond markets for tenge debt at the beginning of December, in a trade that is expected to kick start a wave of similar transactions in 2018.

The Dutch bank has made significant strides in realising its blockchain agenda, as its distributed ledger technologies near commercial readiness.  

Emaar Development priced the largest initial public offering the Dubai exchange has hosted for three years, but some are warning that the global equity markets are being driven by investors’ fear of missing out rather than faith in strong fundamentals.

The Dutch bank, which was nationalised in the wake of the financial crisis, is now 44% privately owned, with insurer ASR Nederland now privatised entirely.

More IPOs due as BAWAG Group bags Vienna’s biggest listing

Middle Eastern sovereigns have swarmed the bond market since the start of autumn, raising US$23.5bn of debt in the space of two weeks and helping make September the highest month on record for emerging market issuance. 

Off-grid power and captive energy projects are taking up some of the slack as big infrastructure deals stall, says Standard Bank.

The World Bank’s private investment arm signed a US$500m deal with Eastspring Investments in July.