We are delighted that our client Diamond Bank (now part of Access Bank Nigeria) has now successfully completed the sale of its UK Banking Subsidiary – Diamond Bank UK to Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance. The sale was in line with the Diamond Bank’s objective of streamlining its operations and focus its resources on the immense opportunities in Nigeria’s retail banking market.

Diamond Bank UK, which was previously the British subsidiary of Diamond Bank PLC of Nigeria, will be renamed ‘the Commonwealth Trade Bank’ and will add significantly to the financial services offering within Mr Gupta’s Global GFG Alliance, comprising metals, industrials, energy, finance and property businesses. The Bank will offer a core range of trade solutions including receivables, inventory and supply chain finance, letters of credit discounting, and trade and documentary services associated with trade finance.

Professor Chris Ogbechie, Chairman of Diamond Bank commented “ This was a complicated transaction to get done and we needed to establish a team that could handle it with creativity and with discretion and appointed Mandeep Ahluwalia and Ian Greenstreet who was previously a Board member of Diamond Bank to handle this transaction. Their expertise and deep relationships were invaluable in ensuring that this transaction was successful. For financial institutions that require capital or require advisory and acquisitions services, I would gladly recommend Mr Ahluwalia Managing Partner of Shivam Advisors and Ian Greenstreet Founder of Infinity Capital Partners Ltd to Financial Institutions who are looking for creative solutions to achieve the desired result. ”

As reported in the Financial Times, the transaction was welcomed by Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, who said: “GFG’s acquisition of Diamond Bank UK will go a long way in helping UK businesses access opportunities in some of the world’s largest and fastest-growing markets.” This includes the Commonwealth – with a third of the world’s population – where the bank has a strong presence.

Following the successful partnership with Shivam Advisors on this sale, Infinity Capital Partners Ltd will joint venture with Shivam Advisors to advise and raise capital for African financial Institutions. We are honoured and privileged to have worked with the entire Diamond Bank team during the process of selling Diamond Bank UK and are delighted that the business has found a good home with Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance.

For Further Information, please contact

Shivam Advisors

Mandeep Ahluwalia; Managing Partner, e:mahluwalia@shivam-advisors.com; c:+447771674250

Infinity Capital Partners

Ian Greenstreet; Chairman, e:ian.greenstreet@infinitycap.co. c:+44 7803 592 174

Ian Greenstreet was invited to visit University of Manchester, School of Computer Science by the Head of the department to discuss the biggest and most inspiring ideas in computer science. The school was recently ranked number one UK University for Research Environment. Ian was involved in discussions with the leaders of innovation at the university and the likes of Steve Furber (responsible for the first ARM microprocessor and winner of the BCS Lovelace Medal 2014) on big data, intelligent robotics and artificial intelligence and text mining and data generation and analysis.

Ian Greenstreet attended the Finovate Europe Conference 2016 in London. Finovate is the only conference series focused exclusively on showcasing the best and most innovative new financial and banking technologies. Finovate conferences consistently attract large, high-impact audiences of senior financial and banking executives, venture capitalists, press, industry analysts, bloggers, regulators, and entrepreneurs. Ian had the opportunity to speak about Infinity Capital Partner’s product, TouchFX; an innovative post-trade solution that allows buyers of foreign exchange to reduce their costs. See video here.

Janet Thomas participates in a panel titled ‘Women Entrepreneurs Who Mean Business’ at the Milken Institute Summit held in London, October 2015. She was joined by a number of female entrepreneurs and CEOs, such as Claire Cockerton, Founder, CEO and Chairwoman of ENTIQ and Helena Morrissey, CBE, CEO of Newton Investment Management, Chair of the Investment Association and Founder of the 30% Club. This panel was focused on discussing the current state of investing in women-led firms and how to remove the barriers that limit funding and other forms of support. Following this, Janet will be speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills in May 2016.