Qatar almost halves stake in Barclays

5th Dec 2023 08:01

(Sharecast News) - Banking giant Barclays was in the red early on Tuesday after its largest shareholder made moves to offload roughly £510.0m in shares.

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund will slash its stake in Barclays, selling almost 362.0m shares at 141.0p each, a discount of approximately 1.4% to its closing price on Monday.

The sale will reduce Qatar's stake in Barclays, which dates back to a £4.0bn investment during the global financial crisis of 2008, from 5.3% to 2.9%. The QIA lowered its Barclays stake by 5% in 2022 and 10% in 2021.

The QIA previously helped Barclays raise over £11.0bn in emergency cash from investors. However, the fundraising was then investigated by the UK's Serious Fraud Office and resulted in subsequent lawsuits.

Barclays chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan was expected to reveal a strategic overhaul of the group in just a matter of weeks, aimed at restoring the bank to its former strengths.

As of 0920 GMT, Barclays shares were down 2.06% at 140.04p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com