Company news in brief

MTN's Ghana unit up on stock market debutThe price of shares in MTN's Ghana unit rose 4 percent to 0.78 cedis on its stock market debut on the Ghana bourse on Wednesday, traders and exchange managers said.The Ghana unit of Africa's largest mobile telecoms group began trading 1.5 million shares on the local exchange after an initial public offering that yielded about a third of its initial 3.47 billion Ghanaian cedi (US$734 million) target. – Nampa/ReutersUber 'on track' for IPO in 2019Uber Technologies Inc is on track to go public next year and has no plans to sell its self-driving car research arm, chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said on Wednesday.The ride-hailing company will not sell its Advanced Technologies Group "at this time," he told Reuters in an interview after a media event to unveil changes to improve the safety of drivers and riders.Uber is "quite optimistic" it can resume testing of self-driving cars later this year after a fatal crash involving an autonomous Uber car in Tempe, Arizona in March, Khosrowshahi said. Federal regulators are investigating the crash.Last month, Toyota Motor Corp said it would invest US$500 million in Uber to jointly develop self-driving cars.Uber is preparing to address the "systems" requirements of a publicly traded company, Khosrowshahi said. "The growth rates for a company our size are unrivaled. Right now, we're on track for an IPO next year, market conditions permitting." – Nampa/ReutersBP concerned over planned mergerThe planned merger of Poland's two largest refiners PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos could restrict competition in the east European country, BP said in a statement on Wednesday.The London-based oil and gas company has not filed any official complaint with Polish or European Union authorities but will consider its options in the future, a company spokeswoman said."If this merger were to go ahead, 95% of the [country's supply and infrastructure] market would be controlled by two companies," the BP statement said."We believe that a competitive market is in the best interest of Polish consumers and that this merger could restrict that competition unless there is a guaranteed competitive cost of supply and infrastructure access." – Nampa/ReutersTullow Oil plans to drill first Guyana wellTullow Oil plans to drill its first well in the much-watched Guyana offshore basin in the third quarter of next year in its Orinduik licence bordering discoveries by Exxon, a spokesman said on Wednesday.Exxon and US partner Hess Corp have said that more than 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent could be recovered from the Stabroek block off Guyana, which is part of one of the world's biggest oil discoveries in the past decade.Tullow owns 60% and Eco Atlantic Oil and Gas 40% in Orinduik. Total has an option to buy 25% from Eco.Tullow also has a 37.5% stake in the Kanuku licence offshore Guyana alongside Repsol and Total. It also owns stakes in two blocks off Guyana's neighbour Suriname, where its partners are Ratio, Equinor and Noble. – Nampa/ReutersGoldman drops bitcoin trading plansGoldman Sachs Group Inc is ditching plans to open a desk for trading cryptocurrencies in the foreseeable future as the regulatory framework for crypto remains unclear, Business Insider reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.In recent weeks, executives have come to the conclusion that many steps still need to be taken, most of them outside the bank's control, before a regulated bank would be allowed to trade cryptocurrencies, the financial news website reported.The Wall Street bank was planning to clear bitcoin futures for some clients as the new contracts were going live on exchanges when the cryptocurrency rocketed to a record high of US$16 000 in December.Regulators across the world have been intensifying their scrutiny of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency exchanges.The US Securities and Exchange Commission had warned last year that some of the coins issued in ICOs could be considered securities, meaning trading them would have to comply with federal securities laws. – Nampa/Reuters

Company news in brief

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-21

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Company news in brief

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-21

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