Barclays rights issue rump to be sold today
THE RUMP of Barclays’ rights issue could come in at around £300m, it emerged last night, after at least five per cent of investors declined to take up the offer of new discount shares.
The £5.8bn issuance will support the bank’s capital position, and each existing investor was offered one new share for each four they already owned.
Although the offer came at a discounted price of 185p – relative to a market price of 273p at close of play yesterday – not all investors could take up the offer due to legal restrictions in their countries.
As a result the underwriters are left with a rump of shares, estimated by Reuters sources at between five and eight per cent of the issue, which they can buy themselves or sell on to the market.
Barclays declined to comment ahead of the official announcement this morning.
Although investors were happy with the bank’s capital position, the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority told Barclays this summer it needed to raise more capital to improve its leverage position. It has achieved that in part through the rights issue, which investors snapped up.