Absa sale a step closer: report
Former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond has teamed up with US private equity group, Carlyle, to prepare a bid for Barclays Africa, which was put up for sale earlier this year.
This is according to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter.
Barclays Africa Group, which includes Absa, claimed in March that there is no lack of interest from buyers seeking a stake in the company after Barclays announced that it will be selling down its stake to less than 20% over the next two to three years.
Barclays has a 62% stake in the unit, which has a market capitalisation of R122 billion ($8.5 billion).
The FT said that regulators are expected to block any attempt of a merger deal between Barclays Africa and other local banks, including Nedbank and FirstRand.
The FT initially reported that Diamond was seeking investment to buy up Barclays Africa operations outside of South Africa – in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda.
These 11 countries account for about 20% of Barclays Africa’s profits.
In an updated report, however, the paper inferred that a bid would include South Africa.
It said that he may seek other investors in addition to Carlyle, including Ashish Thakkar, founder of the Mara Group conglomerate.
Atlas Merchant Capital and Carlyle declined to comment.
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