This morning’s transactions are less about buying finished businesses than securing the right to operate: a banking licence behind a retail network, a regulated oil interest, domestic market access, payment resilience, staged AI infrastructure and a hospital-product platform. The capital is real, but each structure still depends on approval, deployment or customer use.
Proparco invests in Cashi to support payment resilience
Proparco is investing €600,000 in Cashi, its first financing operation in Sudan. Cashi’s payment network combines a digital wallet with USSD, SMS, offline-card and merchant routes designed to keep working through cash and connectivity disruption. The transaction is signed equity, but the real measure is operating resilience: active use, agent liquidity, settlement continuity and reliable access when ordinary banking infrastructure fails.
Shoprite and Investec set out an alliance banking model
Shoprite and Investec entered an agreement in principle for an alliance banking partnership. Subject to regulatory approval, Shoprite Financial Services would own the customer proposition while Investec supplies the licence, balance sheet, infrastructure and regulatory capability behind an expanded transactional account and debit card. It is a route into banking services without Shoprite becoming a bank; the value will depend on how clearly the two parties divide customer, conduct, fraud and service responsibility.
QatarEnergy agrees to acquire 25% of offshore licence PEL82
QatarEnergy agreed to acquire a 25% interest in offshore exploration licence PEL82 from Chevron. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals. On completion Chevron would retain 55% and remain operator, with NAMCOR E&P and Custos Energy each holding 10%. The farm-in spreads exploration exposure, but there is no producing asset yet; value still depends on approvals, work-program execution, capital calls and subsurface results.
Tharisa opens a domestic-market route for Namibian investors
Tharisa began trading on the Namibia Securities Exchange through a further secondary listing, while retaining its JSE primary listing and London secondary listing. The new route gives Namibian institutions direct access to PGM and chrome exposure and can confer domestic-asset status within applicable rules. This was not a capital raise. The next question is whether eligibility converts into ownership, research coverage and liquidity.
SoftBank, Grab and PETROS advance Sarawak AI infrastructure
SoftBank, Grab and PETROS signed a joint development agreement tied to a proposed US$1 billion initial investment in Sarawak AI infrastructure. The proposed split is US$800 million, US$100 million and US$100 million respectively. Capital will be deployed in stages against development and customer-contract milestones, with further investors and hyperscaler customers still to be secured. The structure matters more than the headline: power, permits, customers and phased capital must arrive together.
CorMedix signs a mixed-consideration acquisition of Heron assets
CorMedix signed to acquire substantially all Heron Therapeutics assets for US$145 million cash, 14,583,333 CorMedix shares, up to US$55 million in earn-outs and specified royalties. CorMedix plans to draw US$75 million of senior secured financing; Heron will remain public and retain equity and contingent exposure. The transaction is not closed and still needs shareholder and regulatory approvals. This is an asset transfer with a retained company, not a simple whole-company acquisition.
What the structure tells us
Africa’s transactions are building access through existing regulated systems. Shoprite borrows banking infrastructure, Cashi reinforces payment access in a fragile market, QatarEnergy enters an operated licence and Tharisa opens a domestic investment route. None of those structures is finished simply because the agreement or listing exists; each still has to convert permission into repeat use.
The global deals carry the same discipline at larger scale. Sarawak’s capital is staged against milestones, while CorMedix has split value across cash, shares, debt, earn-outs and royalties. That is why 0to1 follows the transaction rather than only the headline: structure shows who must still deliver, fund and absorb the risk.
Africa · financial infrastructure · alliance banking · energy farm-in · secondary listing · AI infrastructure · asset acquisition