Barclays sells 94.6% shares in rights issue
British banking giant, Barclays has said that it has sold nearly all of the shares in its rights issue valued at $9.4 billlion or about £5.8 billion.
The bank said in a statement that it has received valid acceptances for a total of 3.04 billion new ordinary shares accounting more than 94 per cent of the shares. The bank launched the rights issue at lower price for existing shareholders to meet a regulatory requirement for filling a gap in in its balance sheet.
The bank said that the trading in the new shares will begin this Friday while the remaining shares were placed on the market. The shares were sold at the rate of 185 pence each, which is about a 40 per cent discount over the price of shares as on July 30, when the issue was announced.
The Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which oversees the banking sector in the UK, had ordered Barclays in June to raise £12.8 billion of additional capital after a review of the leading banks in the country. The PRA had asked the bank to increase the equity it holds against total assets.
