Former Barclays boss Diamond eyes up takeover of Barclays Africa
FORMER Barclays boss Bob Diamond is stepping up his efforts to buy the lender’s African operations in a multi-billion pound deal after joining forces with US private equity giant The Carlyle Group.
Bob Diamond is stepping up his efforts to buy the Barclays' African operations
It is believed that Diamond who as chief executive helped to build up Barclays’ businesses in Africa until his departure nearly four years ago, will use his New York based investment vehicle Atlas Merchant Capital to jointly raise funds with Carlyle.
He may also seek support from other investors to gain control of Barclays Africa Group Limited, which has a market value in Johannesburg of £6billion.
Bid preparations are at an early stage and no formal offer has been tabled.
Barclays has had a presence in Africa for over a century, but its new chief executive Jes Staley recently announced it would look to reduce its 62.3 per cent stake in BAGL, which has stakes in banks in countries including Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia, as part of moves to boost its financial strength and focus on the UK and America.
Staley said Africa was a “high quality franchise” but presented “specific challenges” including the level of capital held and increasingly burdens omebanking regulations.
The former Barclays boss has joined forces with US private equity giant The Carlyle Group
Diamond helped to build up Barclays’ businesses in Africa until his departure nearly four years ago
Bid preparations are at an early stage and no formal offer has been tabled
Barclays is likely to prefer to see the operations sold together rather than broken up.
Diamond has built a presence in several African countries, like Nigeria and Botswana, through another vehicle, UK-listed financial services group Atlas Mara.
Barclays has had a presence in Africa for over a century
Its goal is to create “sub-Saharan Africa’s premier financial institution and to become the partner of choice for customers, employees and investors”.
However, Atlas Mara’s market value of less than $300million would rule it out from being used for such a large acquisition.