At a packed breakfast event organised by the SA Business Club in London, ANC-heavy Mathew Phosa this morning said lots of things which South Africans in London (and at home) would have wanted to hear. All in all, a very positive address. Read more about the address here. But, especially here. 

This is what I said about the upcoming event in London a while ago.

The Stellenbosch-based venture capital company Venfin topped up its investment in global mobile community and communication service fring in what was fring’s third round of funding.

The three other investors in fring (two venture capital firms from Israel and one from the US) also participated in this third round of funding, fring said in a statement today. [Read on]

The latest round of economic growth forecasts for Germany were released yesterday and (as I suggested it would) the minus for this year got bigger yet again. The “most pessimistic” economists (in fact, they are the most realistic) now forecast a -6% for this year and another minus 0.5% for next. [Read on]

Just for the record and my archive – and to show that I’m wide awake when it comes to “big, future trends” – this article dated 20 April and my article dated 20 November 2008.

The court decided in favour of eBay (and all other auction platform operators)! In short: Brand-owners cannot prescribe to sellers of their products which sales channels they may use – and which not. 

For the background to this, read this article of mine. 

I’ll report more comprehensively on the decision as reported in this morning’s FTD later today.

Today is a big day for eBay (and South Africa’s media group Naspers) in Europe.

A German court will rule in a case, which could rob eBay in Germany (and other European countries) of lots of turnover, if the decision goes the wrong way. [Read on]

Transnet finalised a financing facility of R915 million with the Finnish Export Credit Agency (ECA) Finnvera last week. The money will be used to buy equipment for the ports of Durban, Ngqura and Cape Town. Full report here. 

It was the first time Transnet tapped the foreign capital market to part-fund its capex programme.

German listed firm Rheinmetall is the majority shareholder of Denel Munitions (more about that here) and this news makes one wonder whether Denel technology might have helped Rheinmetall to catch the fish…