Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodities trading firm, has raised $500 million from the sale of a 10% stake in its African unit Puma Energy, the company said in a prospectus.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. continues to strengthen its position as a leading global hotel operator in Africa with the signing of three new Sheraton hotels, marking the entrance of the company into Mauritania, Guinea and South Sudan by 2017.

The worsening of South Africa’s Current Account Deficit, down from -3.4% in 2011 to -6.3% in 2012, in addition to the shaky Nigerian and Angolan Current Account Surpluses, increasingly worries economists and 2013 hasn’t brought any fundamental change to the overall picture.

The Most Powerful People in the World list is an annual snapshot of the heads of state, CEOs and financiers, philanthropists and NGO chiefs, billionaires, and entrepreneurs who truly rule the world. It represents the collective wisdom of top FORBES editors, who consider hundreds of nominees before ranking the planet’s top 72 power-brokers – one for every 100 million people on Earth — based on their scope of influence and their financial resources relative to their peers.