Ask Nedbank Group CEO Mike Brown how to save South Africa’s beleaguered State-owned power utility and his approach is simple: first give it cash and then consider a debt-to-equity swap later. Eskom Holdings is paying so much in interest on its debt – at the same time that its income is falling – that the company is struggling to keep the country’s lights on. To ease the firm’s cash-flow woes, the government is planning a R230-billion bailout. While the State initially wanted to spread that over ten years, a significant portion is now being expedited, with details expected from the National Treasury on July 23.
