Bob Diamond to Return to U.K. Banking With Panmure Gordon Buy

By Ian Walker 

LONDON -- Former Barclays PLC Chief Executive Bob Diamond is to return to U.K. banking by joining forces with a Qatari investment group to buy 140-year-old stockbroker Panmure Gordon & Co. PLC.

Panmure on Friday said it had accepted a GBP15.5 million ($19.2 million) cash offer from Ellsworthy Ltd., an investment vehicle formed by Mr. Diamond and Qatar investment bank QInvest LLC. The pair will pay 100 pence a share for Panmure, of which QInvest already owns more than 43% of its shares.

Mr. Diamond built up Barclays's investment bank before becoming its chief executive in early 2011 until July 2012 when he was forced to resign following controversy over manipulation of Libor interest rates by traders employed by the bank.

Since then the American investment banker has focused on African financial group Atlas Mara, which he helped found in 2013 and floated on the London Stock Exchange.

Panmure largely serves midcap companies listed in London and for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015 reported a pretax loss of GBP18.9 million and had a record 152 clients. It has since said it expects to report to profit this year.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 17, 2017 03:51 ET (07:51 GMT)

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