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BancABC’s Bulawayo branch

Mernat Mafirakurewa Business Editor
ATLAS Mara Co-Envest – a partnership between Africa’s youngest billionaire Ashish Thakkar and former Barclays chief Bob Diamond – has announced plans to acquire BancABC for $265 million.
BancABC is a leading multi-country, multi-service bank with operations across Sadc, the largest trading bloc in Africa.
BancABC has operations in Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and has 73 branches in the five countries it operates in with Zimbabwe accounting for about 30 percent of the assets.

In a trading update, Atlas said it had since requested the London Stock Exchange to suspend the trading of its shares and warrants with immediate effect.

“Atlas Mara Co-Envest Limited (“Atlas Mara”) notes the cautionary statement made by ABC Holdings Limited (“BancABC”) and, in connection with this statement, is pleased to announce that it has reached agreements to acquire a majority of BancABC,” the company said.

“Atlas Mara is also pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with ADC African Development Corporation AG (“ADC”) to make a voluntary public takeover offer (by way of an exchange offer) for all outstanding ADC shares. The consideration being offered by Atlas Mara in the transactions equates to approximately $265 million in cash and Atlas Mara shares.”

ADC is a Frankfurt-based, open market listed, Africa-focused, emerging pan-African banking group.
Atlas said the proposed combination with BancABC and ADC was consistent with the company’s strategic objective of building the premier sub-Saharan financial services group.

After finalisation of the deal, BancABC’s CEO Douglas Munatsi, will join the Atlas Mara Group Executive Committee.
Upon concluding the transactions, Atlas Mara said it is committed to providing up to $100 million of equity to BancABC, to drive its growth going forward as well as support BancABC’s management in obtaining additional liquidity, including raising Tier II capital.

Under the deal, Atlas Mara has reached conditional purchase agreements with selected shareholders of BancABC to acquire, for cash or shares, BancABC shares representing in excess of 50,1 percent of total shares outstanding for $0,82 per share or the equivalent in Atlas Mara shares.

The completion of the transactions will, in particular, be conditional upon getting regulatory and related government approvals in Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“When we founded Atlas Mara, we did so with the intention of identifying and partnering with exceptional multi-country African financial services companies,” said Atlas Mara director and co-founder Diamond.

“Our objective is to build Africa’s premier financial services group leveraging the access to capital, liquidity and funding that we at Atlas Mara can provide. I am delighted that we will be merging with such high quality organisations as BancABC and ADC.”

“Our future growth will be based on expanding on Dirk Harbecke’s vision at ADC and on the foundation created by Douglas Munatsi and his team at BancABC, who have built a fast-growing, prudently-managed, African banking institution.”

Atlas Mara was formed by Atlas Merchant Capital LLC and Mara Group Holdings Limited and listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in December 2013. Atlas Merchant Capital LLC and Mara Group Holdings Limited are led by Diamond and Thakkar.

“With this transaction, Atlas Mara is well-positioned to collaborate in a synergistic manner with other partners in sub-Saharan African countries and to expand the combined group’s portfolio of banking products and value added services,” added director and co-founder Thakkar.

“With the combination of BancABC’s regional expertise, ADC’s initial platform and Atlas Mara’s global experience, we are confident we can build a true African financial services institution that addresses the needs of our people across the continent and creates a meaningful and lasting positive impact.”