GOOD CATCH

Fishing group Sea Harvest is buying the Australian fishing business MG Kailis for A$70-million. MG Kailis is a “market leading vertically integrated prawn and fish trawling, seafood trading and engineering business”, Sea Harvest said. The acquisition falls under its international growth strategy. It includes vessels, licences and fishing rights for prawns in the Exmouth region and trawled fish in the Pilbara region in Western Australia. The transaction is expected to be completed by 1 April.

SA solar power startup WiSolar plans to raise R45-million this quarter in its first funding round, Bloomberg reports. The company sells solar power on a prepaid basis and thus far has installed more than nine megawatts of capacity, enough to power 3,000 homes. It now plans to grow from offering its product to residential home owners, to property developers. It will take care of the design, permits, maintenance and installation.

The money will be raised from international funders.

International multi-asset broker Exness plans to continue its expansion in

Africa this year. The Cyprus-based company has a Financial Sector Conduct Authority licence from the SA regulator. Its growth plans include into countries such as Uganda and Rwanda. In October last year, the broker surpassed the $1-trillion mark in monthly trading volume. It invests heavily in developing technologies, algorithms and products that will result in fast execution, stable pricing and low to zero commissions and spreads, it says.

China plans to build 6.5 million homes for rental across 40 major cities in the five years to 2025, Bloomberg reports, citing Pan Wei, an official in the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. The rental homes will add up to about 26% of new housing in the cities and will benefit 13 million young people and new residents. This is part of President Xi

Jinping’s drive for common prosperity. Last year, more than 930,000 rental homes were built in the cities, Pan said.

Last year was the second most costly year on record for the world’s insurers, according to Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company. Costs were driven by extreme climate events such as Hurricane Ida in Louisiana in the US and the flash floods in Europe in July. Insured losses from natural disasters were about

$120-billion in the year, second to the $146-billion of 2017. Nearly 10,000 people died from natural disasters last year, in line with previous years.