IN THE NEWS

Happy to be back:) I have been on the road on assignment in different regions of our beautiful country Tanzania hence I have had little or no time to post stories/articles to keep you informed on the going ons…

While I was away I managed to pick up the following news items:

FirstRand-South Africa’s second-biggest financial-services company plans to start offering full banking services in Tanzania early next year.

Etablissements Maurel & Prom

Etablissements Maurel & Prom, is nearing a decision to buy natural-gas reserves in Tanzania from Artumas Group Inc. after extending a purchase option to carry out due diligence.

Under the asset-purchase agreement, Maurel would assume operatorship of Artumas’s Mnazi Bay gas permit, whose reserves may be combined with any found at the Mafia Deep ST well and another known as MOH-1, which are undergoing tests,according to the CEO.

The $12 million transaction would enable Paris-based Maurel to start output in the Tanzania and study building a liquefied natural gas plant to process the fuel for distribution.

WEF’s Global Competitiveness Rankings

Tanzania ranks number 100 in the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Rankings Table- The Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010. The rankings are based on twelve criteria of competitiveness.

BEER WARS taken South: SABMiller Takes on Diageo, Heineken in Namibia

SABMiller Plc won a license to open a brewery in Namibia, taking the fight for control of southern Africa’s beer market to the home of competitor Namibia Breweries Ltd.

The maker of Castle Lager and Carling Black Label has been importing beer into Namibia, where it controls about 22 percent of the market.

Namibia Breweries has a partnership with Diageo and Heineken through a company called Brandhouse Beverages Ltd. that sells into South Africa