The PIC's announcement that it is buying 12 percent of Barclays Africa may be the kind of shaking up that had been missing before the Afrexit, writes Victor Kgomoeswana.
There is something exciting about the announcement by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) that it will be buying 12 percent of Barclays Africa.
The move upholds the pledge by its former chief executive, Elias Masilela, in 2012 to diversify the PIC's investment portfolio geographically across Africa.
Back then, it bought 19.58 percent of Ecobank for about $250 million.
Nedbank, one of South Africa’s big four banks, would wind up paying $493.4 million for an equivalent stake of 20 percent, only two years later.
Credit must go to the political leadership of the time. It consciously assumed a pro-Africa stance and allowed the PIC to invest up to 10 percent of its assets in equities.
The PIC not only lapped this opportunity up, it decided at least half of this 10 percent would be invested in Africa, excluding South Africa. Otherwise, what was the point of South Africa hosting the Pan-African Parliament and deploying peacekeeping troops to troubled African countries, only for outsiders to cash in where it mattered most?
It is not by happenstance, therefore, that the PIC is able to claim to be "one of the largest investors in South African equities, with investments contributing towards approximately 12 percent of the market capitalisation of JSE".
Who knows, one fine day it could be able to make the same play for the entire African continent.
It will not be plain sailing, however, because of the second exciting dimension of this Afrexit by Barclays: the return of its former head honcho, American-born Bob Diamond.
After leaving the British bank under the Libor manipulation cloud, Diamond polished his act by teaming up with young Ashish Thakkar. This African gem enabled Diamond to do with banking what he probably would have managed as group chief executive officer at Barclays.
Barclays, the bank that gave the UK its first debit card and the world its first ATM in 1967, had become too set in its ways to win on the African continent.
Under the whip in a market dominated by more nimble African players, such as Access, UBA, Zenith, Ecobank, Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank, Barclays Plc had no option but to quit.
Like most multinational corporations from the developed world, when the going got tough in emerging markets, it sought security in more predictable regions.
With the help of his joint venture with Thakkar, Diamond can use Atlas Mara to continue mopping up African banking assets at book value or less, to create something more akin to his last name.
The pair have gone from country to country, picking up underperforming banks. This African safari saw them stumble upon assets like BancABC in Zambia, Banque Populaire du Rwanda and the Union Bank of Nigeria.
Thanks to their record, entrepreneurial thrust and the support of such investors as the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which made $200m available for acquisitions, Atlas Mara reported, for the year ending December 31, a net profit after tax of $11.3m, compared with a pro-forma loss of $47.8m for 2014. It grew loans and advances by 15.2 percent and deposits by 11.5 percent.
Bear in mind that this is a company that listed on the London Stock Exchange in December 2013.
Now, the PIC and Dan Matjila will be attending the same shareholders’ meeting as Bob Diamond and Ashish Thakkar. Barclays Africa chief executive officer Maria Ramos can expect some shaking up.
Somehow, this may be the kind of shaking up that had been missing in Barclays family before the Afrexit.
If there is a time for everything, perhaps the time for Atlas Mara and the PIC has come. Who else will be joining this alliance to create a new Barclays Africa? There was speculation that James Mwangi’s Equity Bank might be keen.
Don't dismiss this too easily; or as easily as we dismissed the possibility of Diamond making his Barclays return, when Barclays called it quits on its African business.
Let the African fun begin!
* Kgomoeswana is author of Africa is Open for Business and anchor of Power Hour, which airs from Monday to Thursday on Power FM. Follow him on Twitter: @VictorAfrica
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
The Sunday Independent