Scandal-hit Steinhoff said on Wednesday it had refinanced some 9 billion euros ($10 billion) of debt in its overseas operations which include brands such as Poundland in Britain and France’s Conforama, after pushing the deadline date back repeatedly, Reuters reported. “Implementation of the restructuring is a major milestone on our recovery journey, bringing with it the stability that will allow us to turn the page and concentrate fully on maximizing value from our operating companies,” Group Chief Executive Louis du Preez said in a statement.

Former South African Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas, who says he refused a 600 million-rand ($39 million) bribe from wealthy businessmen, has written a memoir about his time in office and outlined his vision for how to kick-start the country’s economy, Bloomberg News reported. Jonas, 59, who will join telecommunications company MTN Group Ltd. as chairman in December, alleged three years ago that members of the Gupta family offered him the cash and the finance minister’s post if he followed their agenda.

Steinhoff International, the global retailer that is battling to overcome the legacy of South Africa’s biggest accounting scandal, has pledged to slim its business and sell assets in order to survive heavy debts and shareholder lawsuits, the Financial Times reported. The owner of store chains including the UK’s Poundland and Conforama in France is considering the sales as it tackles “too high” debts of $10bn that were left by its 2017 collapse, Louis du Preez, Steinhoff’s chief executive, said on Tuesday.

Moody’s Investors Service hasn’t said it, but investors already think it: South Africa’s credit is junk, Bloomberg News reported. The company, which rates South Africa’s debt Baa3, the lowest investment level, is due to review its assessment in November. Given Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s financial woes and its implications for government debt, the market is pricing in a downgrade. The premium investors demand to hold South Africa’s dollar bonds rather than U.S. Treasuries is almost twice as much as the average for investment-rated emerging markets.

South African business confidence fell to the lowest level in four months in July as concerns over political uncertainty and state companies’ finances outweighed the positive effects of lower interest rates and higher commodity prices, Bloomberg News reported. An index measuring sentiment declined to 92 from 93.3 in June, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Wednesday in an emailed statement. The median estimate of 4 economists in a Bloomberg survey was 93.

Steinhoff International Holdings NV is considering an initial public offering of Pepkor Europe, its fastest-growing unit, as the scandal-hit South African retailer seeks funds for the next phase of its recovery plan, people familiar with the matter said. The company has been discussing a listing of Pepkor Europe with potential advisers, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private, Bloomberg News reported. The business -- which owns the Pepco and Dealz chains as well as Poundland in the U.K.

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. urgently needs a plan to turn profitable or South Africa’s state-owned utility will collapse under mounting debt, according to credit agency Moody’s Investors Service, Bloomberg News reported. The generator of more than 90% of the nation’s electricity reported a record annual loss of 20.7 billion rand ($1.4 billion) last week and is regarded as the biggest threat to South Africa’s economy. The government is giving Eskom a 128 billion-rand bailout over the next three years to keep it afloat.

South Africa’s biggest business lobby criticized the government’s handling of the crisis at power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and said it was unrealistic in its approach to the country’s growing debt burden, marking a sharp break with its largely silent approach to the nation’s economic malaise in recent years, Bloomberg News reported.

Freeman Nomvalo, the new chief restructuring officer for Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., will divide his time between managing the unbundling of the loss-making state power giant and his job as head of the South African Institute for Chartered Accountants, Bloomberg News reported. The role taken by Nomvalo, relatively unknown among economists and analysts, will be more of a process manager than a standalone company executive, according to a statement by the Department of Public Enterprises.

The economic challenge facing President Cyril Ramaphosa was laid bare as South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to its highest in more than a decade and the embattled state-owned Eskom power monopoly unveiled its biggest annual loss, the Financial Times reported. Joblessness in Africa’s most industrialised nation increased to 29 per cent in the second quarter, a 16-year high, according to official statistics released on Tuesday. The figure was 27.6 per cent in the first quarter.