Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Barclays in talks to sell iShares

BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Barclays has been in talks with several parties about selling iShares, its San Francisco-based asset management unit, according to media reports from UK Tuesday.

The UK's third largest bank also said it was talking to the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority about taking part in the Government's asset protection scheme (APS), in which country insures banks' assets against future losses for a fee.

Barclays businesses continue to perform well and have had a strong start to 2009, the company stressed in an announcement to the London Stock Exchange, attempting to cheer the investors.

Experts said the Barclays' exchange traded funds business could net between 3 billion pounds (about 3.41 billion U.S. dollars) and 5 billion pounds (about 5.41 billion dollars), which could help it strengthen its position before the deadline of March 31 to apply for APS and avoid joining the scheme for bank assets.

Barclays' decision whether and to what extent to participate in the scheme will be based on the economic merits to shareholders of any such participation, the company added.

Sandy Chen, an analyst at Panmure Gordon The contemplated disposal of iShares, the continued wrangling over the APS, and the disclosure of significant credit derivatives-related payouts from troubled counterparties all reinforce our view that Barclays' risk profile is high.

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