Atlas Mara has received regulatory approval to acquire a majority stake in the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) in a deal that will see the government divest from the lender.

The company, formed by former Barclays Bank CEO Bob Diamond and Uganda businessman Ashish J Thakkar, said it had agreed to buy the government’s 77 per cent stake in the bank in the company’s second deal in the continent.

“The board of Atlas Mara is pleased to announce that subject to the satisfaction of certain regulatory and other conditions, it has agreed to acquire the government of Rwanda’s 77 per cent shareholding in the commercial arm of the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD),” the company said in a statement on Friday.

The deal comes less than three months after Atlas made a similar acquisition in Botswana, buying a stake in BancABC for a reported $260 million.

“This is a significant step in Atlas Mara’s objective to become a leading financial services group in sub-Saharan Africa. When completed, the transaction will broaden Atlas Mara’s footprint in the East African Community,” said the board.

Controversy

Mr Diamond is one of the most controversial bankers to emerge from the financial crisis in the UK, and is the man ousted as boss of Barclays after a direct intervention by the Bank of England.

The 32-year-old Mr Thakkar is the chief executive of Mara Group, a conglomerate of IT, real estate and manufacturing companies with operations in 26 countries, 19 of which are in Africa, employing more than 7,000 people.

The two financiers are understood to have approached investors to raise the $250 million necessary to set up the company Atlas Mara, which plans to buy stakes in existing African banks.

The BRD deal comes less than two months after Atlas Mara announced a deal to buy a major stake in Botswana-based BancABC for $265million.