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African Development Bank Secures $31 Billion at Investment Forum
from DAWN
By Annie Njanja
Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, attends a meeting of the 2020 African Economic Outlook report in Abidjan © Thomson Reuters
THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK raised $31 billion in investment commitments for projects during the Africa Investment Forum, said the bank's president Akinwumi Adesina at the end of the three-day meeting on Friday, November 4th. It brings the total investment for the year to about $64 billion, said Adesina. The bank secured $32.8 billion at another meeting with investors in March.
Adesina gave few details about the projects but said one focus would be agricultural processing zones.
Projects announced earlier in the year were from sectors including agriculture and agro-processing, education, energy and climate, healthcare, minerals and mining, and information and communications technology. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ african-development-bank-secures-31-billion-atinvestment-forum/ar-AA13LzKQ
Another Major Purchase for Loop Capital
By MG Media
James Reynolds, Jr. CFA
THE ACQUISITION of New York-based bond fund manager Smith Graham brings Loop Capital's assets under management to over $10 billion. The buyout of Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors, which has $3.4 billion under management, is Loop Capital's second asset management deal of 2022. Before this year, Loop Capital was a bit player in the money management business and had made its name over many years managing debt off erings for municipalities.
James Reynolds is Chairman & CEO of Loop Capital, a Black-owned investment bank headquartered in Chicago, which he founded in 1997. A 30-year veteran of the fi nancial services industry, Reynolds held senior-level positions at several global Wall Street fi rms and holds a Master of Management in Finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a BA in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin.
Loop Capital, well known for its commitment to diversity, is a great place to begin an investment banking career. The fi rm’s formidable internship program off ers students hands-on experience and a lot of exposure to senior bankers. Full-time junior bankers work closely with top executives on many diff erent types of deals. The fi rm is heavily involved in the communities it serves and strongly focused on diversity. Employees take a lot of pride in working for such an inclusive fi rm.
Early this year, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC Bank) purchased a minority stake in Loop Capital to expand its presence in U.S. capital markets. Loop has offi ces in 20 U.S. cities and more than 175 employees globally. Financial terms and the size of the stake aren’t being disclosed. https://www.facebook.com/tbtnewsservice
Gate Afric
By Ayen
FILE PHOTO: Members of the Turkana pastoralist community affected by the worsening drought due to failed rain seasons, collect water from an open well dug on a dry riverbed in Kakimat village in Turkana © Thomson Reuters
THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION
said on Thursday, November 17th it was committing $7 billion to Africa over the next four years, as Bill Gates warned that the Ukraine crisis was reducing the amount of aid flowing to the continent.
The Foundation's pledge, which is up 40% on the amount spent during the previous four years, will target projects tackling hunger, disease, poverty and gender inequality. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, will take the biggest share.
Humanitarian groups in Africa are grappling with the diversion of funding away towards Ukraine, and as Russia's invasion increases goods prices globally, impacting aid operations.
"The European budgets are deeply affected by the Ukraine war and so right now the trend for aid is not to go up," the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp told journalists at the University of Nairobi during a visit to Kenya. "If you take all aid (into Africa) including all climate aid - we'll have a few years where it’ll probably go down."
Kenya and much of East Africa is suffering its worst drought in four decades.
Drought, compounded by conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic, has pushed more than 10 million people in the region "to the very brink of a hunger crisis", the U.S.-based Christian relief group
