Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

8 September 2014

Appointment of Arina McDonald as Chief Financial Officer

Atlas Mara Co-Nvest Limited ("Atlas Mara" or the "Company") announces the appointment of Arina McDonald as Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

Ms McDonald joins Atlas Mara from The Standard Bank Group of South Africa, where she was Head of Group Central Finance. She has been with Standard Bank since 2002 and held roles including Chief Financial Officer of Africa; Director of Group Finance Projects and a Director in Investment Banking. Prior to that she worked at Goldman Sachs and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Arnold Ekpe, Chairman said: "I am delighted to announce that Arina is joining us. She has excellent expertise and demonstrable success in leading and growing one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest financial institutions. I am confident that she will bring that experience to bear at Atlas Mara and ensure that we have one of the best finance functions in Africa."

John Vitalo, CEO said: "I look forward to working closely with Arina. It is clear from her past successes that she is an exceptional candidate with superb experience in, and insights into, a wide range of African countries. We have achieved a lot in the last nine months at Atlas Mara and I believe that Arina will help us to continue to thrive."

Arina McDonald, Chief Financial Officer elect said: "I am very excited to be joining Atlas Mara.  Since its IPO, the Company has demonstrated its commitment to becoming one of sub-Saharan Africa's leading financial institutions, having already announced three acquisitions.  I look forward to working with John Vitalo and the rest of the team to continue to deliver that objective and grow the business."

Ms. McDonald will take over from Bradford Gibbs, who has held the role of Acting CFO. Mr. Gibbs will continue to work for Atlas Mara in a senior strategic and operational capacity, reporting to the CEO and remaining on the Executive Committee.

Ms. McDonald will join the Company on 1 November 2014 and will be appointed to the Executive Committee.

Contact details

StockWell Communications, +44 (0)20 7240 2486

Anthony Silverman

Robert Morgan

Sard Verbinnen & Co, +1 (212) 687 8080

David Reno

Margaret Popper

Notes to Editors

About Atlas Mara

Atlas Mara was formed by Bob Diamond, Founder of Atlas Merchant Capital LLC and Ashish J. Thakkar, Founder of Mara Group Holdings Limited, and listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in December 2013.

Atlas Mara's strategy is to create sub-Saharan Africa's premier financial institution through a combination of its experience, expertise and access to capital, liquidity and funding and to support economic growth and strengthen financial systems in Africa.

For more information, visit the Company's website at www.atlasmara.com.

About Arina McDonald

Arina joins Atlas Mara from Standard Bank of South Africa, which she joined in 2002. During that time her roles have included Head of Group Central Finance; Chief Financial Officer of Africa; Director of Group Finance Projects; Director of Investment Banking (Acquisition Debt Finance) and Director of Taxation. Prior to Standard Bank she was Director of European Tax at Goldman Sachs and before that she was a Senior Manager in the Banking & Capital Markets Tax Division of PricewaterhouseCoopers in London.

She is a qualified Chartered Accountant and is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. She holds a degree in Accounting from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, which she passed with distinction.

Arina began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she was in the Banking & Financial Services audit team, after which she specialised in taxation upon joining the PWC London Banking & Capital Markets tax team. From there she joined the Goldman Sachs London tax team as Executive Director, supporting the fixed income desks, before returning to South Africa in 2002 to join the Standard Bank Group.During her tenure at Standard Bank, Arina gained experience in debt structuring and mergers and acquisitions in addition to her role as CFO for the African franchise across 17 African jurisdictions.