Angola: Sonangol's Billion Dollar Headache

analysis

The task facing Angola's state oil company, Sonangol, as it adjusts to lower revenues during the slump in oil prices, is complicated by a stratospheric debt burden which gives little room for manoeuvre. And yet the new administration is unexpectedly making repayment of one private debt a top priority.

In spite of multiple pressing issues (including the root-and-branch restructuring of Sonangol) repayment of this particular debt has been fast-tracked by Sonangol's new CEO, the President's daughter Isabel dos Santos. A source close to the Sonangol board has told Maka Angola it's the reason why Sonangol has been seeking a loan of US $800 million from a bank based in Egypt, offering as surety its shares in the Millenium BCP division of Portugal's largest private bank, the Commercial Bank of Portugal (BCP).

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