The race for a stake in Barclays Africa Group has heated up, with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) on Monday confirming that it was putting together a consortium of black people to buy into the entity.

PIC CEO Daniel Matjila said the aim was to have black control of the institution, adding that all prospective investors would invest their own money.

“This is an investment, so everyone (who becomes part of the consortium) will bring their own, real money,” said Matjila when asked about funding.

The PIC is in “exploratory, early stage talks with many entities” that could fund their own involvement. “There is no formal structure at the moment, it is just an idea,” he said.

Pressed on identities of the parties to the talks, Matjila said Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital was one.

African Rainbow joint CE Johan van Zyl, however, declined to comment “on market speculation and rumours about … discussions with other parties.”

If a deal involving the entity materialises, African Rainbow would be one of the few black-owned companies with the financial muscle to acquire a meaningful stake in the bank that has a R120bn market capitalisation.

Chaired by Motsepe, African Rainbow is the financial services arm of Ubuntu-Botho Investments, which owns a 14.5% stake worth about R20bn in insurer Sanlam.

Matjila told the Financial Times that he had spoken to former Barclays plc CE Bob Diamond, whose company Atlas Merchant Capital had confirmed it was keen on acquiring the stake being sold by Barclays plc, through a consortium with the Mara Group and US private equity group, Carlyle.

Diamond was CEO when Barclays plc acquired a majority stake in Absa Bank in 2005, before merging the African operations.

Referring to the Atlas Mara and Carlyle consortium, a source speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said: “(We’re) very much in favour of a partnership. As the PIC mentioned, it’s going to require a lot of global capital, so it’s the perfect partnership. The consortium really understands and appreciates the importance of transforming this institution.”

Although the PIC, which controls R1.8-trillion in the pensions of state employees and other funds, is keen on raising its 7.3% stake in Barclays Africa, it will not go up to 20%.

That level of ownership would make it a shareholder of reference, with regulatory obligations that require deeper commitments than those of a passive portfolio investor.

“That would be too much of an exposure for us. We have to maintain our normal level of investment like we do for all other entities,” said Matjila.

The PIC owns an average 12% of companies listed on the JSE.

Barclays plc’s holding in Barclays Africa fell to 50.1% earlier this month after it sold stock in a book-building exercise whose participants included the PIC.

Although Barclays Africa chairwoman Wendy Lucas-Bull has said that Barclays plc’s sell-down presented an opportunity to increase black shareholding in the bank, and other bidders have said they were keen on empowerment partners, if the PIC succeeds, it would mean SA is close to having a major bank controlled by black investors.

This would boost the government’s black industrialists plan in terms of which people from previously disadvantaged communities were major players in the economy.

•Source: BusinessDAY South Africa. Photo shows one of Barclays’ prospective investors, Patrice Motsepe.

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