Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC) shares were lower in morning trade on reports that a shareholder unloaded £900mln of shares at a chunky discount.
The shares were sold at 150p, according to a report from the Bloomberg news agency; shares closed at 160.48p last night and are currently trading at 155.08p, down 3.4% on the day.
Reports of the share sale come a day after Barclays admitted it had dropped a ricket by issuing more structured and exchange-traded notes than it had registered for sale. This will require the bank to buy back the affected securities at their original price, it said.
The bank said it expects to take an exceptional £450mln charge as a result of the error and added that it would as a result delay its planned £1bn share buyback programme until the second quarter of this year.
That appears to have been enough for the unnamed seller to dump stock. Bloomberg contacted the bank’s three biggest shareholders; Blackrock Inc and the Qatar Investment Authority declined to reply while Vanguard offered nothing more than a “no comment” response.