South Africa

Platinum Australia (PLA), the ASX-listed platinum miner with all its operations in SA, has now sought refuge from its creditors in voluntary administration. That means there could be some assets up for grabs for mining companies still in the ring, the Financial Mail reported. One of those is African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), Patrice Motsepe's diversified mining company, which is PLA's partner in the advanced Kalplats exploration project, 330km west of Johannesburg.

China intends to extend renminbi loans to other Brics nations, in another step towards the internationalisation of its currency, the Financial Times reported. The China Development Bank will sign a memorandum of understanding in New Delhi with its Brazilian, Russian, Indian and South African counterparts on March 29, say people familiar with their talks. Under the agreement CDB, which lends mainly in dollars overseas, will make renminbi loans available, while the other Brics nations’ development banks will also extend loans denominated in their respective currencies.

British clothing and footwear retailer JD Sports Fashion Plc said on Tuesday it has further diversified its business with the acquisition of rugby brand Canterbury for 6.5 million pounds ($11.01 million). JD said it purchased the key trading assets and trade of Canterbury Europe Limited along with the global rights to the Canterbury and Canterbury of New Zealand brands, which are over 100 years old, from the firm's administrators.

Kenya is seeking $500 million in funds to help cushion the economy after the global economic crisis cut exports and foreign investment, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said. The funds are over and above the $200 million loan that Kenya has obtained from the International Monetary Fund, Odinga said in an interview in Cape Town yesterday, where he was attending the World Economic Forum on Africa. The global recession has curbed Kenya’s foreign currency earnings as exports fell and remittances from Kenyans living abroad declined.

The South African unit of General Motors would not be affected by its parent's bankruptcy filing, a senior official at General Motors South Africa said on Monday, Reuters reported. General Motors Corp filed for bankruptcy on Monday, forcing the 100-year-old automaker once seen as a symbol of American economic might and dynamism into a new and uncertain era of government ownership. Read more.

The South African economy has gone into recession after official figures showed that it contracted an annualised 6.4% in the first three months of 2009, the BBC reported. Africa's biggest economy shrank 1.8% in the previous three months, compared with the same period a year before. The first-quarter figure was the biggest decline since 1984 and puts South Africa in its first recession since 1992. "It's far worse than we expected," said Elna Moolman, economist at Barnard Jacobs Mellet.

A High Court judge has allowed financial services provider Asteron Life Ltd to serve a bankruptcy notice on a man in South Africa by email, provided it receives a “read reply,” The National Business Review reported. Asteron, formerly Royal and SunAlliance, had already received judgement against Pieter Anton Franck. Court permission is required to serve bankruptcy papers on a debtor overseas. As Asteron had been frustrated in obtaining an address for service, it asked for permission to serve the overseas notice by email.