LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - Former Barclays ChiefExecutive Bob Diamond is teaming up with private equity groupCarlyle to prepare a bid to buy the bank's Africanoperations, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters onMonday.
Diamond is looking to structure a deal to acquire Barclays'62 percent stake in Barclays Africa Group Limited viahis investment vehicle Atlas Merchant Capital, set up to investin financial services after he left the UK-based bank.
Carlyle and Atlas Merchant declined to comment.
Barclays on March 1 said it would sell down its stake in thebusiness, to focus instead on a new 'transatlantic' strategy.
Sky News first reported the proposed deal on Sunday. (Reporting by Lawrence White; editing by Jason Neely)