Agriculture
Syngenta eyes Kenyan plant
Syngenta would start a second African seed-treatment institute in Kenya in 2016 and planned to expand in the west of the continent in the next five years, the largest producer of crop chemicals said yesterday. The company opened its first research and development facility on the continent in Brits this week and planned another in Kenya in two years, Abraham Vermeulen, the company’s head of maize, sugar and diverse field crops in the region, said. He said the Brits unit was its 11th such plant and it planned to have a total of 18 centres by the end of 2016. “Kenya is the second-biggest seeds market in Africa,” he added. – Bloomberg
Telecoms
Bharti plans $1bn capex
India’s Bharti Airtel planned annual capital expenditure of $1 billion (R10.3bn) in the next few years and would focus on deepening investments in 17 African countries rather than entering new markets, chief executive Sunil Mittal said yesterday. He said the firm was comfortable with its debt levels and was evaluating options for the sale, leaseback or sharing of its African transmission towers. – Reuters