Barclays announces final sale of stake in Barclays Africa
[LONDON] Barclays will sell a seven percent stake in Johannesburg-based Barclays Africa Group on December 5, the British bank said on Friday, the latest and likely last in a series of such sales as it ends more than 90 years as a major presence on the continent.
Barclays said after the sale its stake in the African division would be 14.9 per cent, which represents its desired long-term goal and no further sales are planned.
The British bank first announced in March 2016 that it would sell most of its then 62 per cent stake in Barclays Africa over two to three years, as the bank refocused its strategy on the United States and Britain under chief executive Jes Staley.
"This news should be warmly received by shareholders and is a further step along the path to eliminating non-core activities as management focuses on its UK business," John Cronin, financial analyst at Dublin-based brokerage Goodbody, said.
Shares in Barclays Africa have risen by 9.7 per cent since Barclays announced it would sell the unit in March 2016.
REUTERS
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Banking & Finance
DBS mobile app customers face intermittent access on Saturday
Tether acquires US$100 million stake in US-listed Bitcoin miner Bitdeer
Japan spent record US$62 billion to prop up yen in past month
UBS completes merger of UBS and Credit Suisse parent companies
Thai central bank says current inflation goal ‘appropriate’ for economy
Mixed inflation data, soft output raise uncertainty on BOJ’s rate-hike timing