LONDON (Alliance News) - Atlas Mara Ltd, the African banking group co-founded by former Barclays PLC boss Robert Diamond and entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar, said it will buy up to USD10 million of its shares in a repurchase programme.
The news comes two months after investors called for such a move in a conference call with the company. In addition, Atlas Mara said its management and founders will look to purchase the stock.
Atlas Mara disclosed the plans as it reported a USD7.1 million profit in the first nine months of 2015, compared with a pro forma loss of USD38.7 million for the corresponding quarters of 2014.
"Our results for the nine months ended September 30 reflect our continued focus on acquiring the right assets and being astute operators. We place particular emphasis on prudently growing the asset base, reducing funding costs, delivering efficiencies and launching innovative products and services for our customers," Chief Executive John Vitalo said in a statement.
The company said it is in advanced negotiations to acquire Finance Bank of Zambia PLC, which is currently the sixth largest bank in the country.
It expects to pay about USD60 million in cash and 2.6 million Atlas Mara shares for Finance Bank of Zambia, in a deal which could increase to USD61 million and up to 5.7 million Atlas Mara shares, depending on exchange rates and profitability targets. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.
The deal, which would include the merger of Finance Bank of Zambia with Atlas Mara's Zambian subsidiary, African Banking Corporation Zambia Ltd, would "result in the creation of Zambia's largest bank by branch network and fifth largest bank by assets with combined assets of approximately USD418 million".
Shares in Atlas Mara were up 9.1% at USD6.00 on Thursday morning in London.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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