Barclays has sold 12.2% stakes in Barclays Africa for 603 million pounds ($876 million). The sale is part of the bank’s plan to simplify its structure, shore up its balance sheet and generate higher shareholder returns by selling non-profitable businesses in Asia and Africa. The bank sold103 million shares, priced at 126 rand each – a discount of 6.5%. Barclays’ retreat from Africa may include selling the remaining 50.1% stake to a strategic investor, with former Barclays’ boss Bob Diamond already lining up financing. That would end more than a century of involvement by the banking major in the continent.
