POLITICS
Angola’s ruling party nominated President Jose Eduardo dos Santos to lead the southern African country if it wins parliamentary elections set for Aug. 31, spokesman Rui Falcao de Andrade said (Bloomberg).
Angolan police fired gunshots in the air and used teargas to disperse hundreds of civil war veterans who staged a second protest rally in under two weeks to demand payment of overdue subsidies (News24).
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ECONOMY
The exchange rate on Angola’s currency has remained stable in the first five months of the year, having varied by just 0.5 percent as the result of a regular supply of currency to the market, the governor of the Bank of Angola said (Macauhub).
BUSINESS
Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos has reached an agreement to buy a further 10.96 percent of Portugal’s leading pay-TV and Internet provider Zon Multimedia, from state owned bank Caixa Geral de Depositos, Zon said (Reuters).
Sonangol EP plans to take part in Banco Comercial Portugues SA (BCP)’s 500- million-euro capital increase and bolster its stake in the Portuguese bank, Diario Economico reported (Bloomberg).
Direct net investment by Angola in Portugal in the first three months of the year totalled 118.8 million euros, as compared to 22.2 million euros in the same quarter of 2011, which represents year-on-year growth of 435.2 percent (Macauhub).
Kempinski AG, the luxury hotel chain, will open properties in three African countries this year and is looking at projects in five more, the company’s president said. The hotelier, based in Geneva, is adding locations in Ghana, Angola and Kenya as it seeks to expand across the continent, Kempinski President and Chief Executive Officer Reto Wittwer said(Bloomberg).
AVIATION
EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou moved a step closer to setting up a new Africa-focused airline, Fastjet, after a British investment group he is part of bought Lonrho’s African aviation business. FastJest will fly to and fro Angola and other states (Reuters).
Fastjet will employ operating licenses held by Lonrho’s Fly540 unit to establish flights in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Angola using a fleet of Airbus SAS A319 airliners or Embraer E- 190 regional jets, Ed Winter, who will run its holding company, Rubicon Diversified Investments Plc, said (Bloomberg).
MINING
A London court has been given a glimpse into the opaque world of Angolan diamonds, in a battle between a Russian-Israeli tycoon and his one-time partner that has also thrown up how modern-day buccaneers are building fortunes from Africa’s resources (Reuters).
OIL & GAS
South Africa is looking to source oil from Angola, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia to replace supplies from Iran, which is facing sanctions over its nuclear programme, a top energy official said (Reuters).
Sonangol EP, Angola’s state-owned oil company, said its selection of Cobalt International Energy Inc. (CIE) and other partners in offshore crude fields followed Angolan law. Recent oil discoveries in Angola have attracted “parties interested in causing controversy where none exists,” Sonangol said (Bloomberg).
PORTS
The new jetty in the city of Cabinda was inaugurated as part of the programme to modernise port, airport, and rail facilities underway in Angola, the country’s Transport Minister, Augusto Tomás said (Macauhub).
