Barclays Plc (LON:BARC) confirmed it is selling a 12% stake in the Barclays Africa business, to cut its stake down to 50.1%.
The UK bank is set tom receive just over £600mln from the divestment, which is being done via an accelerated book-build placing – with 103.5mln shares being sold at 126 South African Rand (nearly £6) per share.
It follows reports that former Barclays boss Bob Diamond was interested in acquiring a stake in the African banking business, via the Atlas Mara vehicle.
In a statement, Barclays current chief executive Jes Staley said: "This is an important first step as we seek to reduce our shareholding in Barclays Africa to a level that achieves accounting and regulatory deconsolidation.
“As we said at our Q1 results, we continue to explore opportunities to reduce our shareholding, including capital market and strategic options.”
Staley added that Barclays Africa continues to be viewed as an important partner, and planning was underway to split the businesses in a way that will preserve value for shareholders in both.
South Africa’s state pension fund, the Public Investment Corporation SOC Ltd (PIC), is acting as an ‘anchor’ investor in the Barclays Africa share sale, and it is expected to take up to 10.3mln shares (or 1.2% of the business).