Investors are prepared for the worst as the day of reckoning looms for Eskom Holdings, the State-owned power utility seen by Goldman Sachs Group as the biggest threat to the country’s economy. Yields on benchmark South African government notes are at their highest in three weeks, trumped only by junk-rated Nigeria, Turkey and Lebanon among 29 major emerging markets. Rand-denominated sovereign debt has lost 3% for dollar investors this half, the worst performance after Colombia and Argentina. Foreigners have dumped a net R25-billion of the country’s bonds this year, cutting their holdings to 37% of the total, from 43% less than 18 months ago.
