Finance

Barclays’ Ex-CEO May Buy the Bank’s Africa Operations

By Reuters
Nairobi Calm As Political Manoeuvering Intensifies
NAIROBI, KENYA - JANUARY 08: Residents in the Kawangware slum walk past a branch of Barclay's Bank on January 8, 2008 in Nairobi, Kenya. Normal business has resumed in the capital after post election violence abated. African Union Chairman John Kufor is to arrive in Nairobi today and is expected to meet with President Mwai Kabaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
Photograph by Peter Macdiarmid—Getty Images

Former Barclays Chief Executive Bob Diamond is teaming up with private equity group Carlyle to prepare a bid to buy the bank’s African operations, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

Diamond is looking to structure a deal to acquire Barclays’ 62% stake in Barclays Africa Group Limited via his investment vehicle Atlas Merchant Capital, set up to invest in financial services after he left the U.K.-based bank.

Carlyle and Atlas Merchant declined to comment.

Barclays on March 1 said it would sell down its stake in the business, to focus instead on a new ‘transatlantic’ strategy.

Sky News first reported the proposed deal on Sunday.