Qatar’s state investment fund Qatar Holding has almost halved its stake in major British bank Barclays. This led to Barclays shares falling sharply in London trading on Tuesday.
At most, the stock fell 4.5%, according to Bloomberg. Later, the price decline slowed to just over 2 percent. However, there is still a greater price drop than the discount in Qatar sales indicates.
Qatar Holding was expected to sell 361.7 million shares in Barclays at a price of 141 pence per share. stock, which means a discount of about 1.4 percent from Barclays’ closing price on Monday, according to Reuters.
Bloomberg data shows that collective sales of at least US$150 million — about NOK 1.6 billion — have been priced on average 4.7 percent below their closing price so far in the current quarter.
At a price of 141 pence, Qatar Holding will receive about 510 million pounds sterling, equivalent to about 7 billion Norwegian kroner, for the shares sold.
Barclays’s share price is now around 140p – after prices have fallen by around 12 per cent so far this year.
Responds to timing
Qatar became Barclays’ largest shareholder in connection with the financial crisis in 2008, when the emirate pumped £4 billion into the bank and thus saved it from a government bailout.
At the end of 2022, Qatar had a stake of about 5% in Barclays, and the shares sold now make up about 45% of that stake, according to Bloomberg.
The timing of the sale now is making other investors frown. One institutional investor contacted by Reuters believes the timing choice is eccentric, ahead of Barclays’ strategy update over the new year.
This year, the bank began working on measures that will provide savings of up to £1 billion, including a round of downsizing that could involve cutting up to 2,000 jobs, according to the news agency.
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