Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited

Atlas Mara Limited

Type	Public
Traded as	LSE: ATMA
Industry	Banking and Finance
Founded	28 November 2013
Founders	Robert Edward Diamond Jr Ashish Thakkar[1]
Headquarters	Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Key people	John Vitalo[2] Chief Executive Officer
Products	Commercial banking
Revenue	US$ 80.4 Million (2014)[3]
Net income	US$ -63.5 Million (2014)
Total assets	US$ 2.64 Billion (2014)
Total equity	US$ 687.9 Million (2014 Actual)
Number of employees	1,600 (2014)
Website	Homepage

Atlas Mara Limited, formerly referred to as Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited,^[4] is a financial services holding company formed to undertake the acquisition of target banks in Africa with the objective of becoming a leading financial services group in the continent. 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 Capital LLC held 80% while Mara Group Holdings Limited 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 on December 17, 2013 through an IPO which raised USD 325 million.^[6]

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:^[7]

• 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 forth quarter of 2014.^[8]

On May 24, 2014, the Board of Atlas Mara announced that the group would be acquiring Government of Rwanda stake in the commercial arm of the Rwanda Development Bank (BRD).^[9][10]

In September 2014, Atlas Mara acquired a 20.9 percent stake in the Union Bank of Nigeria from Asset Management Company of Nigeria^[11] for $270 million, putting its total holding in the firm at almost 30 percent.^[12]

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.^[13] This will lead to the delisting of ABC Holdings from both the Botswana and Zimbabwe Stock Exchanges.^[14] This delisting was finally concluded on November 28, 2014.^[15]

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 span 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.^[16] 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.^[17]

In 2016, Atlas Mara completed the purchase of Novo Banco's 49% stake in Moza Banco.^[18] Moza Banco is Mozambique's fourth-largest commercial bank and would be merged into BancABC Mozambique.^[19]

Member Companies

The companies that comprise the Atlas Mara Group include, but are not limited, to the following:^[20]

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 – 99% Shareholding^[3] – A commercial bank holding company. Held through ADC Management Services.
• 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.
• BancABC 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.^[21]
• 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.^[22]

Associate Companies

• Union Bank of Nigeria – Lagos, Nigeria – 29.9% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Nigeria.^[23] 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.^[24]
• iVeri Payment Technologies – 49% Shareholding – A payment solution provider in South Africa. Held through ADC Management.^[25]
• 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, is Arnold O. Ekpe while John Vitalo serves as the Chief Executive Officer.

See also

• BancABC
• Union Bank of Nigeria
• Rwanda Development Bank
• List of banks in Africa

References

1. AMCNVL, . (2013). "Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited 2013 Prospectus: Page 43" (PDF). Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited (AMCNVL).
2. RNS, . (8 April 2014). "Atlas Mara Appoints Group CEO". Regulatory News Service (RNS). Retrieved 5 September 2014.
3. "Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited - 2014 Annual Report" (PDF). http://atlasmara.com/. Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited. December 31, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2015. External link in |website= (help)
4. "Atlas Mara Name Change". http://www.investis.com/. Atlas Mara Limited. 2015-01-27. Retrieved 2015-02-09. External link in |website= (help)
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.
6. ATMA, . (2013). "Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited Factsheet" (PDF). Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited (ATMA). Retrieved 5 September 2014.
7. 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.
8. Ndlovu, Ray (5 September 2014). "Atlas Mara To Buy Rest of Bank Group". Business Day (South Africa). Retrieved 5 September 2014.
9. Porter, Kiel (May 23, 2014). "Atlas Mara to Buy Stake In Development Bank of Rwanda Arm". Bloomberg News. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
10. Jenny Clove, Edmund Blair, Anthony Barker (April 6, 2014). "Atlas Mara Plans To Buy Stake In State-run Rwandan Bank". Retrieved September 5, 2014.
11. "Atlas Mara UBN Transaction Announcement" (PDF). Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited. September 8, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
12. "Bob Diamond's Africa bank buys stake in Nigeria's UBN" (Press release). Reuters. 5 September 2014.
13. "Mandatory offer for remaining 4.2% of ABC Holdings". ATLAS Mara Co-Nvest Limited. September 22, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
14. "BancABC, to delist from Zimbabwe, Botswana stock". New Zimbabwe. September 3, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
15. "Atlas Mara - Issue of Shares and Total Voting Rights". http://www.investis.com/. ATLAS Mara Co-Nvest Limited. November 28, 2014. Retrieved November 28, 2014. External link in |website= (help)
16. "Atlas Mara completes acquisition of BRD". New Times. October 15, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
17. "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.
18. Bowker, Tom (May 26, 2015). "Atlas Mara Said to Consider Bid for Stake in Mozambican Bank". Bloomberg News. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
19. "Atlas Mara seeks approval for BancABC-Moza merger". February 8, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
20. "Atlas Mara - Company structure". ATMA. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
21. "Atlas Mara to acquire Finance Bank of Zambia Plc". http://www.investis.com/. ATLAS Mara Limited. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-13. External link in |website= (help)
22. "ATLAS Mara Limited: Completion of BPR Acquisition". Yahoo!. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
23. 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.
24. "ICEA Lion Tanzania - Shareholders and Reinsurers". ICEA Lion Group. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
25. "ADC Operations / Private Equity / iVeri Payment Technologies". African Development Corporation. Retrieved October 28, 2014.

External links

• Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Homepage
• Development Bank of Rwanda
• BancABC