Bob Diamond is looking for ways to revive confidence in bank acquirer Atlas Mara
London — Bob Diamond, co-founder of Atlas Mara, is weighing his options, including taking the sub-Saharan African bank acquirer private, say insiders. One way was to find an investor or private-equity vehicle to back such a move, one of them said. Merging with a financial institution with a presence in Africa was being considered, but talks were at an early stage. An Atlas Mara spokesman would not comment. Atlas Mara’s share price fell 6.3% to $2.06 at 2pm in London trading and earlier as much as 9.1%, the biggest intraday drop since October. Trading volume surged to more than triple the three-month average. Diamond, former CEO of Barclays plc, is looking for ways to revive confidence in Atlas Mara, which lost about 80% of its value since selling shares to the public more than three years ago to buy stakes in African banks. Atlas Mara has a market value of about $143m. Its biggest asset, a stake of more than 31% in Union Bank of Nigeria, exposes it to mounting bad debt and a currenc...
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