Atlas Merchant Capital, an investment vehicle partly owned by former Barclays Chief executive Bob Diamond,  will team up with a major US-based private equity firm Carlyle Group to prepare a joint bid for Barclays Africa, which is officially on sale.

The British owned multinational bank announced  in March that it planned to sell down its 62.3 percent stake in Barclays Africa Group, over the next two to three years, to reduce regulatory pressure and focus on its core assets.

Diamond, who resigned from Barclays in July 2012 under a cloud of the Libor rate-rigging scandal and claims of overpayment, is among a number of investors who have shown interest in buying Barclays assets in Africa.

His investment firm Atlas Mara, which he co-owns with entrepreneur and Africa’s youngest billionaire Ashish J. Thakkar,  aims to become one of the top banking sector players in Africa.

Atlas Mara has been on a buying spree across the continent’ financial markets and currently has investments in over seven African countries.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Diamond will use New York-based Atlas Merchant Capital to jointly fundraise with Carlyle. They have not yet submitted a formal offer.

Diamond is tipped by some analysts as a leading candidate to buy his former bank’s African business.

Barclays plans to reduce its stake in the African unit to less than 20 percent, which analysts say will be worth about $3 billion, making it one of the largest ever banking asset to be sold on the continent.

By teaming up with Carlyle, one of the world’s largest buyout firms, Diamonds plans to build his investment vehicle’s credibility as a top contender for the whole of Barclays stake on the continent, Financial Times reported.

The US private equity group raised a $700 million fund for doing deals in sub-Saharan Africa in 2014, making its first investment in South Africa that year.

Selling the whole of Barclays Africa stake to one investor  is however seen as a challenge for the bank due to the fragmentation of markets on the continent and regulatory challenges in some markets like Egypt.

There are also few buyers who can afford the whole Africa business and a merger with local rivals would face lengthy regulatory setbacks.