[ad_1]
Tiger Global, the US hedge fund that was one of Barclays' biggest investors, sold all of its stake, according to people familiar with the issue, which contradicts the bank's efforts to gain support from its bank. recovery strategy.
Tiger, based in New York, was one of the strongest supporters of CEO Jes Staley's plan to improve the disappointing price of his shares by reviving his investment bank.
But the multi-billion dollar hedge fund – which was among the top 10 investors with a stake of about 2.5% – began to trim its position last summer before fully offloading earlier this year, officials said.
Tiger's exit comes at a difficult time for Barclays, who is trying to prevent Edward Bramson, the activist investor, from winning the board of directors and spur a change in strategy that would involve cutting the bank. investment.
When Tiger took a stand, it was seen as a boost for Mr. Staley, who pledged to protect the investment bank from Mr. Bramson's attack.
The US hedge fund spent more than $ 1 billion to strengthen its stake in Barclays in November 2017, when the bank's shares were trading at around 180p. The company's shares subsequently rallied to 217bp in March but have since lost about a quarter of their value. Friday, the action closed at 159.5p.
Most of the hedge fund's position was held through swaps, which meant that Tiger's termination of his position was not on the Barclays share register, said one of the people.
Tiger and Barclays declined to comment.
At the time, people familiar with Tiger's decision to acquire a stake in Barclays claimed that this decision was based on the belief that Mr. Staley was correct in asking the bank to focus on his retail activities in the UK United States and its investment bank led by the United States.
Tiger also thought that Barclays' significant presence on Wall Street meant he would likely be one of the biggest beneficiaries among foreign banks of President Donald Trump's corporate tax cuts and rising US interest rates .
Tiger Global was founded in 2001 by Chase Coleman, the largest of the so-called "Tiger Cub" hedge fund managers, who learned their craft while working for renowned industry specialist, Julian Robertson, in his company. management of tigers in the 1990s.
The fund tends to invest in technology companies, but in recent years, it has diversified and holds stakes in Domino's Pizza and JC Penney, the retailer, as well as Spotify, Adobe and Salesforce, according to a recent securities filing .
A person familiar with this case said that the decision to leave Barclays should not be interpreted as a loss of confidence in Mr. Staley and that the fund had probably seen more attractive investment opportunities elsewhere.
Mr. Bramson, who has acquired a 5.5% interest in Barclays through his Sherborne investment vehicle, has become one of the biggest opponents of Mr. Staley's strategy to preserve the investment bank of the company. society – which he describes as a "black box with too much leverage".
Earlier this month, he announced his intention to join the bank's board at the annual Barclays meeting in May. However, one of the top five shareholders told the Financial Times that he was expecting Bramson to lose the proxy battle.
"All investors are telling me is that there is a consensus not to vote in favor," said the investor. "He wants to be placed above other major shareholders like us and he has not even revealed his great plan."
But the investor said it would be wrong to interpret the opposition to Mr. Bramson as a support for Barclays' strategy. "We must remember that Bramson has no purpose. This has been a terrible stock. "
[ad_2]
Source link