Atlas Mara Limited

Atlas Mara Limited, formerly referred to as Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited,[3] is a financial services holding company formed to undertake the acquisition of target banks in Africa.[4]

Atlas Mara Limited
TypePublic
LSE: ATMA
IndustryBanking and Finance
Founded28 November 2013 (2013-11-28)
FoundersBob Diamond (banker) Ashish Thakkar
HeadquartersTortola, British Virgin Islands
Key people
John Vitalo[1]
Chief Executive Officer
ProductsCommercial banking
Revenue US$ 420 Million (2017)[2]
US$ 47.7 Million (2017)
Total assets US$ 3.14 Billion (2017)
Total equity US$ 0.79 Billion (2017)
Number of employees
~6,500 (2015)
Websitewww.atlasmara.com

The Group's headquarters are located in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, with subsidiaries and investments in Botswana, Germany, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

History

Atlas Mara was founded on November 28, 2013 by former Barclays Executive Bob Diamond and entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar through Atlas Merchant Capital LLC and Mara Group Holdings Limited as their investment vehicles respectively.[5] Atlas Merchant held 80% while Mara Group held 20% of the venture upon incorporation. The Group's geographical area of focus is on the African continent.

The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange as a SPAC on December 17, 2013 through an IPO which raised USD 325 million.[6] As of 17 July 2020, the stock price had crashed and had lost over 95½% of its IPO price.[7] The ticker symbol in London is "ATMA.LN". It trades by appointment in the United States on the Pink Sheets under the ticker symbol "AAMAF".

On March 31, 2014, Atlas Mara announced that it had made an offer to acquire sub-Saharan African bank ABC Holdings Limited and Frankfurt based African Development Corporation AG (ADC) for approximately $265 million. This was to be done through a three phase acquisition strategy:[8]

  • The group would acquire 50.1% stake of BancABC through direct agreements.
  • The group would make a voluntary offer to acquire a majority stake in ADC, bringing total ownership in BancABC up to 88%.
  • The group would make a subsequent mandatory offer for the remaining 12% stake in BancABC.

This acquisition would give the group presence in Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and a minority stake in the Union Bank of Nigeria. The Transaction was scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014.[9]

On May 24, 2014, Atlas Mara announced that the group would be acquiring Government of Rwanda stake in the commercial arm of the Rwanda Development Bank (BRD).[10][11]

In September 2014, Atlas Mara acquired a 20.9 percent stake in the Union Bank of Nigeria from Asset Management Company of Nigeria[12] for $270 million, putting its total holding in the firm at almost 30 percent.[13]

On September 22, 2014, Atlas Mara made a mandatory offer for remaining 4.2% outstanding shareholding in ABC Holdings that the group did not hold in ABCH. The minority shareholders would either opt for a cash consideration or receive 0.0683 ordinary shares of Atlas Mara for each ABCH share held.[14] This will lead to the delisting of ABC Holdings from both the Botswana and Zimbabwe Stock Exchanges.[15] This delisting was finally concluded on 28 November 2014.[16]

On October 16, 2014, Atlas Mara announced that it had completed its previously announced acquisition of the Development Bank of Rwanda's commercial banking business which had been spun off into a new subsidiary following an internal reorganization of BRD. This subsidiary was incorporated to run the commercial loan portfolio, BRD's Insurance brokerage firm and a piece of a commercial plot adjacent to BRD’s Kigali headquarters.[17] In April 2015, the group announced its intention to acquire a significant minority interest in Banque Populaire du Rwanda SA (BPR). The group would then marge BPR's business to that span off BRD then acquire secondary shares from existing shareholders resulting in the Company having a controlling stake of the merged business.[18]

In 2016, Atlas Mara completed the purchase of Finance Bank of Zambia (FBZ) with consideration settled by approximately $61 million in cash and 3.3 million Atlas Mara shares, not including deferred contingent consideration of up to 1.3 million Atlas Mara shares. FBZ will be combined with Atlas Mara's Zambian subsidiary, African Banking Corporation Zambia Limited ("BancABC Zambia"), with pro forma combined assets as at December 31, 2015 of approximately $567 million. The acquisition will position the merged bank as one of the largest banks in terms of branch footprint in Zambia with the physical presence increasing from 23 branches to 65 branches, a total of 176 ATMs and 23 agencies.[19]

In April 2019, Atlas Mara announced that it had entered into a share swap with Equity Group Holdings Limited. The deal would see Atlas Mara transfer 62 percent of Banque Populaire du Rwanda, 100 percent of African Banking Corporation of Zambia, African Banking Corporation of Mozambique and African Banking Corporation of Tanzania to Equity Group in exchange for 6.27 percent shareholding in Equity Group in a transaction valued at valued at US$105.71 million.[20]

Member companies

The companies that comprise the Atlas Mara Group include, but are not limited, to the following:[21]

Subsidiaries
  • African Development Corporation AG – Holding Company – Frankfurt, Germany – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank holding company.
  • ADC Management Services – Holding Company – Port Louis, Mauritius – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank holding company. Held through African Development Corporation.
  • ABC Holdings Limited – Holding Company – Gaborone, Botswana – 100% Shareholding[22] – A commercial bank holding company.
  • BancABC Botswana – Gaborone, Botswana – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Botswana, serving individuals and businesses. Held through ABC Holdings Limited.
  • BancABC Mozambique – Maputo, Mozambique – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Mozambique, serving individuals and businesses. Held through ABC Holdings Limited.
  • BancABC Tanzania – Dodoma, Tanzania – 74% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Tanzania, serving individuals and businesses. Held through ABC Holdings Limited.
  • Atlas Mara Bank Zambia – Lusaka, Zambia – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Zambia, serving individuals and businesses. Held through ABC Holdings Limited. In November 2015, Atlas Mara announced that it would be acquiring Finance Bank of Zambia and merge its operations to those of BancABC Zambia. This would result in the creation of Zambia's largest bank by branch network and fifth largest bank by assets.[23]
  • BancABC Zimbabwe – Harare, Zimbabwe – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Zimbabwe, serving individuals and businesses. Held through ABC Holdings Limited.
  • Rswitch Limited- Kigali, Rwanda – 88.54% Shareholding – A payment solution provider in Rwanda. Held through ADC Management.
  • Tanzania Development Finance Company Limited – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – 68% Shareholding – A development finance company. Held through ABC Holdings Limited.
  • Banque Populaire du Rwanda – 62% shareholding – A commercial bank in Rwanda, serving individuals and businesses and offering bancassurance services. BRD Commercial Bank's operations were merged to those of BPR creating Rwanda's the second largest bank by total assets.[24]

Associate companies
  • Union Bank of Nigeria – Lagos, Nigeria – 48[25]% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Nigeria.[26] UBN is listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange.
  • ICEA Lion Tanzania – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – 47% Shareholding – An insurance company underwriting general insurance business in Tanzania. ICEA Lion Tanzania is a venture between Kenyan-based ICEA Lion Group and Tanzania Development Finance Company Limited.[27]
  • iVeri Payment Technologies – 49% Shareholding – A payment solution provider in South Africa. Held through ADC Management.[28]
  • Credit Insurance Zimbabwe Limited – Harare, Zimbabwe – 24% Shareholding – An insurance company underwriting general insurance business in Zimbabwe. Held through BancABC Zimbabwe.

Governance

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Atlas Mara Limited, was Arnold O. Ekpe while John Vitalo served as the Chief Executive Officer. The current Chairman is Michael Wilkerson.

See also

References
  1. RNS, . (8 April 2014). "Atlas Mara Appoints Group CEO". Regulatory News Service (RNS). Retrieved 5 September 2014.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. AML (31 December 2017). "Atlas Mara 2017 Audited Accounts" (PDF). Tortola: Atlas Mara Limited (AML). Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  3. AML (27 January 2015). "Atlas Mara Name Change". Tortola: Atlas Mara Limited (AML). Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  4. Bray, Chad (26 April 2016). "Atlas Mara Exploring a Bid for Barclays Africa Group". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  5. ATMA, . (2013). "Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited 2013 Prospectus Page 51 to 53" (PDF). Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited (ATMA). Retrieved 5 September 2014.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. Arif Sharif, and Tim Barwell (17 December 2013). "Diamond-Backed Atlas Mara Raises $325 Million in London IPO". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  7. https://www.barchart.com/stocks/quotes/ATMA.LN/technical-chart?plot=BAR&volume=0&data=MO&density=X&pricesOn=1&asPctChange=0&logscale=0&sym=ATMA.LN&grid=1&height=500&studyheight=100
  8. Renee Bonorchis, Mbongeni Mguni, and Godfrey Marawanyika (1 April 2014). "Bob Diamond's Atlas Mara Buys Bank In First Africa Purchase". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  9. Ndlovu, Ray (5 September 2014). "Atlas Mara To Buy Rest of Bank Group". Business Day (South Africa). Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  10. Porter, Kiel (May 23, 2014). "Atlas Mara to Buy Stake In Development Bank of Rwanda Arm". Bloomberg News. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  11. Jenny Clove; Edmund Blair; Anthony Barker (April 6, 2014). "Atlas Mara Plans To Buy Stake In State-run Rwandan Bank". Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  12. AMCIL (September 8, 2014). "Atlas Mara UBN Transaction Announcement" (PDF). Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited (AMCIL). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-11. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  13. Press Release (5 September 2014). "Bob Diamond's Africa bank buys stake in Nigeria's UBN" (Press release). Reuters.
  14. AMCIL (22 September 2014). "Mandatory offer for remaining 4.2% of ABC Holdings". ATLAS Mara Co-Nvest Limited (AMCIL). Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  15. "BancABC, to delist from Zimbabwe, Botswana stock". New Zimbabwe. September 3, 2014. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  16. AMCIL (28 November 2014). "Atlas Mara - Issue of Shares and Total Voting Rights". ATLAS Mara Co-Nvest Limited (AMCIL). Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  17. "Atlas Mara completes acquisition of BRD". New Times. October 15, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  18. "Atlas Mara announces potential acquisition of stake in BPR and merger of BRD Commercial and BPR". Investis. Atlas Mara. 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  19. RNS (1 July 2016). "Completion of Acquisition of Finance Bank Zambia Limited". London: Regulatory News Service (RNS). Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  20. Business Daily Africa (30 April 2019). "Equity To Acquire Banks In Four African Countries In $105 Million Deal". The EastAfrican. Nairobi. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  21. "Atlas Mara - Company structure". ATMA. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  22. AMCV (31 December 2015). "Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited - 2015 Annual Report" (PDF). London: Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited (AMCV). Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  23. AML (2 November 2015). "Atlas Mara to acquire Finance Bank of Zambia Plc". ATLAS Mara Limited (AML). Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  24. "ATLAS Mara Limited: Completion of BPR Acquisition". Yahoo!. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  25. https://nairametrics.com/atlas-mara-ups-stake-in-union-bank-to-48/
  26. Sharman, Andy (5 September 2014). "Bob Diamond's Atlas Mara Raises Stake In Union Bank of Nigeria". The Financial Times (London). Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  27. "ICEA Lion Tanzania - Shareholders and Reinsurers". ICEA Lion Group. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  28. "ADC Operations / Private Equity / iVeri Payment Technologies". African Development Corporation. Archived from the original on 2014-08-21. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
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