Court postpones ruling on Barclays/Absa

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s High Court postponed a ruling on Barclays Plc’s bid to buy a majority stake in banking group Absa to today after an apartheid reparations group filed for an injunction, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday.

Jubilee South Africa seeks to halt the R33-billion transaction, arguing that Barclays should pay reparations as it benefited under apartheid. It requested an injunction halting the transaction during the court hearing in Johannesburg that had been called to approve the deal.Barclays’ bid to buy a majority stake already has the approval of regulatory authorities and Absa shareholders.The transaction will mark its return to retail banking in South Africa after anti-apartheid protests forced it to leave the country in 1986.The source said the judge postponed the court hearing until Wednesday for Jubilee South Africa to study a responding affidavit filed by Barclays’ lawyers.Jubilee South Africa spokesman Tristan Taylor said the local group aimed to halt the transaction, in which Barclays plans to buy a 60 per cent majority stake in Absa, the country’s biggest consumer bank.”All we are asking the court to do is consider Barclays’ past…We are trying to stop the deal from going down,” Taylor said.Barclays said late on Monday that it had lowered the minimum acceptance stake for Absa to 50,1 per cent from the 56,5 per cent floor it had set.The British group said it had now fulfilled the minimum acceptance condition for the offer and it held 52,2 per cent of all Absa’s ordinary shares in actual shares and tenders.Absa shares were 0,06 per cent firmer at 82,55 rand by 1040 GMT, in line with a 0,2 per cent rise in the JSE Securities Exchange’s blue chip Top-40 index.-Nampa-ReutersIt requested an injunction halting the transaction during the court hearing in Johannesburg that had been called to approve the deal.Barclays’ bid to buy a majority stake already has the approval of regulatory authorities and Absa shareholders.The transaction will mark its return to retail banking in South Africa after anti-apartheid protests forced it to leave the country in 1986.The source said the judge postponed the court hearing until Wednesday for Jubilee South Africa to study a responding affidavit filed by Barclays’ lawyers.Jubilee South Africa spokesman Tristan Taylor said the local group aimed to halt the transaction, in which Barclays plans to buy a 60 per cent majority stake in Absa, the country’s biggest consumer bank.”All we are asking the court to do is consider Barclays’ past…We are trying to stop the deal from going down,” Taylor said.Barclays said late on Monday that it had lowered the minimum acceptance stake for Absa to 50,1 per cent from the 56,5 per cent floor it had set.The British group said it had now fulfilled the minimum acceptance condition for the offer and it held 52,2 per cent of all Absa’s ordinary shares in actual shares and tenders.Absa shares were 0,06 per cent firmer at 82,55 rand by 1040 GMT, in line with a 0,2 per cent rise in the JSE Securities Exchange’s blue chip Top-40 index.-Nampa-Reuters