Atlas Mara — the African investment vehicle of Ugandan entrepreneur, Ashish Thakkar, and former Barclays CEO, Bob Diamond — paid $250 million to increase its stake in Union Bank of Nigeria Plc to 29.9 percent, VenturesAfrica reports.
Union Bank has 340 branches in Nigeria.

The acquisition included buying about 20.9 percent of Union Bank’s holdings from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), according to VenturesAfrica. Since its establishment in 2003, Atlas Mara has made several significant acquisitions including buying a 50.1-percent stake in pan-African BancABC, headquartered in Botswana, according to VenturesAfrica.

Union Bank is being rebranded to make itself more competitive. Established as Colonial Bank in 1917, and owned by Barclays from 1925 until the 1970s, Union Bank’s market capitalization is about N136 billion ($737 million). At the end of June, it had about N1.008 trillion ($5.5 billion) of assets, N409 billion ($2.2 billion) in deposits and N208 billion ($1.1 billion) in equity.

“This is a very significant acquisition, we will have a significant stake in a key Nigerian bank and we will also have established strategic market positions in three of Africa’s leading economic communities: the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East Africa Community (ECA) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),” Atlas Mara said in a statement.

In November, Atlas Mara announced it was looking for acquisitions in its bid to build sub-Saharan Africa’s leading bank, VenturesAfrica reports. “Atlas Mara will continue to execute its plans for safeguarding, integrating and growing its operating businesses while also continuing to evaluate acquisition opportunities in its existing, as well as other, attractive Sub-Saharan African markets,” the company said in a trading statement.

Atlas Mara hired Richard Muller, formerly of Barclays Plc and Absa Group Ltd., as chief integration officer, saying it plans to improve efficiency, controls and governance and address shortcomings in credit processes.

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