US hedge fund Tiger Global finishes unwinding stake in Barclays
Tiger Global finished unwinding its entire stake in Barclays at the start of 2019.
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According to the Financial Times, which cited people familiar with the situation, the US hedge fund, which at one point had amassed a 2.5% stake in the lender - mostly via swaps - began to exit its position in 2018 and had finished doing so just recently.
Because the shares had been lent to Tiger via swaps, the temporary change of beneficial ownership was not apparent to investors who track variations in the lender's share register.
Yet while that meant that an investor who had supported Barclays chief Jes Staley's strategy, including building-up the investment bank unit, had now exited, one of the persons cited by the FT said: "the decision to exit Barclays should not be interpreted as a loss of confidence in Mr Staley. The fund had probably seen more attractive investment opportunities elsewhere."
As well, although the news came amid a recent attempt by activist investor, Edward Bramson, to win representation on the board, in order to push for a reduction in the footprint of Barclays's investment bank unit, a top five investor in the lender told the FT it did not expect Bramson to win the proxy vote.