Diamond’s Atlas Mara Agrees to Buy Zambian Bank for Cash, Shrs

Financial services firm co-founded by former CEO of Barclays, Bob Diamond, has reached agreement to buy 100% of Finance Bank of Zambia, Atlas Mara says in statement.

* Atlas Mara will acquire FBZ for approximately $60m in cash and 2.6m Atlas Mara shrs, valued at $15.6m at Friday’s close;
* Deal expected to be completed in 1Q 2016;
* Combination of FBZ with Atlas Mara’s Zambian unit ABC Zambia will create Zambia’s largest bank by branch network and 5th largest bank by assets with combined assets of ~$418m;
* NOTE: Diamond’s Atlas Mara Announces Buyback, Nears Zambian Deal. Source: Bloomberg