Investments in South Africa’s infrastructure that couldn’t be completed last year because of political uncertainty are among deals that are now on the cusp of getting done, said the chief executive officer of Nedbank Group Ltd.
Mike Brown’s confidence reflects improving sentiment since Cyril Ramaphosa replaced the embattled Jacob Zuma as the country’s president last month. The government is trying to resolve policy uncertainty in South Africa’s crucial mining industry while getting renewable energy projects underway again.
“The front-end of those transactions would be infrastructure-type transactions, in particular, in South Africa, the renewable-energy deals,” Brown, whose bank is controlled by Old Mutual Plc, said in an interview in London on Thursday.
Nedbank plans to “work alongside certain state-owned enterprises, that have previously been starved of funding, to rehabilitate them,” he said, emphasizing cash-strapped power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and loss-making South African Airways.
Brown has been part of the CEO Initiative, which was started to help the government rescue the economy after Zuma fired his finance minister at the end of 2015.
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