Barclays applies for waiver

JOHANNESBURG – Britain’s Barclays has applied to South African regulators to waive a mandatory offer rule because it already has effective control of the country’s biggest retail bank Absa, it said yesterday.

In terms of the rule an offeror who has acquired at least 35 per cent but not more than 50 per cent of the voting right of a company will be restricted from obtaining securities carrying more than five per cent of the voting rights. Barclays has a 56,1 per cent shareholding in Absa, which gives it voting control and makes adherence to the rule unnecessary.The British banking group – which said in July it paid about 27,87 billion rand for just under 54 per cent of Absa – recently announced it had acquired a further 14,5 million shares.Barclays was at one time South Africa’s biggest bank but pulled out as criticism of the country’s apartheid rule intensified.Barclays’ return to retail banking in the country marks the biggest foreign direct investment in the country yet.-Nampa-ReutersBarclays has a 56,1 per cent shareholding in Absa, which gives it voting control and makes adherence to the rule unnecessary.The British banking group – which said in July it paid about 27,87 billion rand for just under 54 per cent of Absa – recently announced it had acquired a further 14,5 million shares.Barclays was at one time South Africa’s biggest bank but pulled out as criticism of the country’s apartheid rule intensified.Barclays’ return to retail banking in the country marks the biggest foreign direct investment in the country yet.-Nampa-Reuters

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