Dubai: A consortium led by former Barclays PLC chief executive officer Bob Diamond has submitted a bid in the region of $4-5 billion (Dh14.9-18.3 billion) for the British lender’s African arm, sources close to proceedings told Gulf News on Tuesday.
The consortium consists of Diamond’s New York-based Atlas Merchant Capital, entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar’s Mara Group and US private equity and alternative asset management firm Carlyle Group.
Atlas Mara, the sub-Saharan financial services group founded by Diamond and Thakkar, is not directly involved in the bidding for Barclays Africa Group Limited (BAGL).
Earlier on Tuesday, Atlas Mara confirmed in an announcement to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) that it was indeed exploring the acquisition of Barclays’ stake in BAGL and had held discussions with a consortium of investors.
However, one of those party to discussions but speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is still private, stressed that the bid had been submitted by the three parties.
“The ball is now in their [Barclays PLC] court, though we are not certain on when this can be wrapped up.”
A Barclays PLC spokesperson declined to comment while Diamond or Thakkar could not be reached. Barclays PLC chief executive Staley was said to be out of the office, with calls to the Carlyle Group’s spokespersons going unanswered.
If the bid is successful, BAGL will be incorporated under the Atlas Mara brand, turning it into a major financial services brand in the markets it already serves, including South Africa.
“Diamond and Thakkar will not be establishing a separate bank, let alone running one separate from their African-focused banking group. They already have Atlas Mara,” the source said.
Barclays owns a 62.3 per cent stake in BAGL valued at around $4.9 billion. The British lender made known its intentions in March to whittle down the stake to around 20 per cent. Barclays also made it clear that it would not rush into a fire-sale of BAGL.
Atlas Mara swung back into the black in the financial year ended December 31, 2015, coming from a loss before tax of $58 million in 2014 to report a profit before tax of $19.2 million.
The group reported a net profit after tax for the year of $11.3 million, a huge improvement on the prior year’s pro forma loss of $47.8 million.
Atlas Mara achieved a cost-to-income ratio of 85.1 per cent, up from the 81.2 per cent recorded in 2014, attributed to “a targeted investment in building a scalable banking proposition,” as well as gains witnessed in the group’s technology platform.
The banking group’s equity at the end of the reporting period was $625.5 million, falling from the December 31, 2014 position of $682 million due to foreign exchange translation losses stemming from the strengthening of the US dollar against most African currencies.
Atlas Mara has a market capitalisation of roughly $300 million on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market.
