LONDON (Alliance News) - Bob Diamond, the former chief executive of Barclays PLC, would "recuse" himself from talks in the event his London-listed African banking company Atlas Mara Ltd moves ahead with a plan to combine with his former employer's African arm.
In a statement Tuesday, Atlas Mara confirmed it had talks with a group of investors exploring an acquisition of Barclays' 62% stake in Barclays Africa. The talks also covered a potential combination of Atlas Mara with those Barclays assets.
Members of the investor group include Atlas Merchant Capital, founded by Bob Diamond, and the Mara Group, founded by Ashish Thakkar. Both Diamond and Thakkar are founders and non-executive directors of Atlas Mara. Reports in recent days have said that Diamond is teaming with US private equity firm Carlyle on a move for Barclays Africa.
Jes Staley, who became chief executive of Barclays in December, said in March that he plans to sell down the bank's 62% stake in Johannesburg-listed Barclays Africa Group.
Staley, who is aiming reduce the stake to below 20% over the next two to three years, has said Barclays shareholders might as well take direct ownership in the African business because capital requirements mean they are punished for owning shares indirectly through Barclays due to the weight on returns.
Neither Atlas Mara director would be part of talks to combine Atlas Mara with Barclays Africa, the London-listed company said, in the wake of advice given to Atlas Mara's board by external legal counsel with respect to "various corporate governance matters".
"In the event that the consortium reaches a definitive agreement with Barclays in relation to Barclays Africa, it is expected that Atlas Mara will enter into substantive discussions about the potential combination with the consortium," Atlas Mara said in a statement.
"To the extent that such discussions result in a proposal being made to the company by the consortium necessitating review by the board of directors of Atlas Mara, Mr Diamond and Mr Thakkar will recuse themselves from such discussions. Mr Diamond and Mr Thakkar remain wholly committed to the company and the execution of its strategy," Atlas Mara said.
There can be "no assurance" of the completion of the transactions, Atlas Mara said, citing the "significant complexity" and "early stage" of the discussions with the investor group.
Separately, Atlas Mara said it swung to a pretax profit of USD19.2 million in 2015, from a pretax loss of USD58 million a year earlier, leading to a net profit after tax of USD11.3 million versus a loss of USD47.8 million in 2014. Earnings were held back by the weakening of African currencies against the US dollar, Chief Financial Officer Arina McDonald said.
Chairman Arnold Ekpe added: "Despite a challenging economic backdrop, we are pleased to have declared our first annual profit. Strategically, the building blocks are falling into place, and I fully expect that 2016 will demonstrate further progress on our journey towards building sub-Saharan Africa's premier financial institution which will deliver the returns and growth our shareholders expect."
Shares in Barclays were up 0.4% at 171.10 pence on Tuesday morning, while shares in Atlas Mara were up 7.2% at USD4.39.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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