{"id":54694,"date":"2023-12-26T19:36:19","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T19:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial"},"modified":"2023-12-26T19:56:08","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T19:56:08","slug":"dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial","title":{"rendered":"Dr Rajan Mahtani gives evidence against Atlas Mara in London trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Former Barclays Boss Bob Diamond Faces Lawsuit Over Zambian Bank Takeover The High Court in London is hearing a case against Atlas Mara, the company founded by former Barclays boss Bob Diamond, over allegations that it attempted to diminish the value of Zambia\u2019s Finance Bank ahead of a takeover. Dr. Rajan Mahtani, the founder of Finance Bank Zambia (FBZ), initiated the lawsuit, claiming that Atlas Mara breached the terms of the acquisition agreement, and is seeking damages of up to $100 million (\u00a380 million).<\/p>\n

Dr. Mahtani, who established FBZ in 1986, agreed to the takeover by Atlas Mara to secure the future of the bank as his daughters had no interest in running the firm. The bank, with 73 branches and over 1,100 employees, was considered one of the most successful in Zambia.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the dispute is Atlas Mara\u2019s alleged attempt to reduce the value of FBZ by identifying faults and regulatory issues. The court heard that Atlas Mara had initially offered approximately US$215.4 million for FBZ, with US$135.3 million and an \u201cearn-out\u201d of US$80 million.<\/p>\n

During the trial, Dr. Mahtani denied withholding regulatory concerns from the Zambian national Bank (BoZ) before the sale\u2019s completion date. The BoZ audit found that FBZ\u2019s subsidiary, FBS, was under-capitalized by over 30 million Kwacha (around US$4.5 million in 2015), a finding Dr. Mahtani disputed as having no impact on the sale price.<\/p>\n

Atlas Mara accused Dr. Mahtani of suppressing information about FBS\u2019s under-capitalization, and internal emails were presented to the court, suggesting that Atlas Mara was not informed until May, months after the BoZ inspection.<\/p>\n

Dr. Mahtani defended his actions, stating that Atlas Mara was conducting its due diligence and was aware of the regulatory issues. He claimed that Atlas Mara\u2019s objections were an attempt to bring down the sale price by \u201cfinding fault in everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

This legal battle adds another chapter to Bob Diamond\u2019s career, following his departure from Barclays in 2012 amid an interbank rate-fixing scandal. Atlas Mara, co-founded by Diamond, was set up to acquire banks in Africa. The hearing is expected to conclude before Christmas.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. Former Barclays Boss Bob Diamond Faces Lawsuit Over Zambian Bank Takeover The High Court in London is hearing a case against Atlas Mara, the company founded by former Barclays boss Bob Diamond, over allegations that it attempted to diminish the value of Zambia\u2019s Finance Bank ahead of a takeover. Dr. Rajan Mahtani, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":54693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-54694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nDr Rajan Mahtani gives evidence against Atlas Mara in London trial - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Barclays Boss Bob Diamond Faces Lawsuit Over Zambian Bank Takeover The High Court in London is hearing a case aga ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr Rajan Mahtani gives evidence against Atlas Mara in London trial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Barclays Boss Bob Diamond Faces Lawsuit Over Zambian Bank Takeover The High Court in London is hearing a case aga ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-26T19:36:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-26T19:56:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/12\/sm_1703607853.619915.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Dr Rajan Mahtani gives evidence against Atlas Mara in London trial\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-26T19:36:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-26T19:56:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial\"},\"wordCount\":371,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/12\/sm_1703607853.619915.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/dr-rajan-mahtani-gives-evidence-against-atlas-mara-in-london-trial\",\"name\":\"Dr Rajan Mahtani gives evidence against Atlas Mara in London trial - 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