Barclays embarks on £1.3bn fundraising

by Gill Montia

Story link: Barclays embarks on £1.3bn fundraising

Barclays has supported its ambitions on Wall Street by raising £701 million in a placing of new shares, to help pay for its acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ assets.

The bank also anticipates raising £600 million from existing shareholders.

After walking away from discussions aimed at saving Lehman Brothers last weekend, Barclays quickly confirmed that it would be buying some of the assets of the failed investment bank.

The purchases include Lehman Bothers’ prestigious New York headquarters; its investment banking and capital markets businesses and two data centres.

The price is around £1 billion, which is seen as something of a bargain because the merger of Lehman’s investment banking units with Barclays Capital could create the third-largest investment bank in the US.

Barclays says it will raise a total of £1.3 billion in its latest cash call, which follows its £4.5 billion fundraising in July, when the bank said it needed to bolster its core tier 1 capital ratio and further its international growth plans.