In a stunning blow to the British lender, a U.S. hedge fund that was one of its biggest investors, has bowed out.
If hedge funds are indeed the «smart money» in capital markets, shareholders in British lender Barclays may have been given cause for thought as Tiger Global, the multi-billion dollar hedge fund, has reportedly sold its entire stake in the bank.
A story first run in the «Financial Times», details how the New York-based fund started reducing its position despite taking a public stance defending chief executive Jes Staley.
Shrink the Investment Bank
Tiger's exit – which is bound to be seen as a betrayal by top management – comes when Barclays is fighting to stop activist investor Edward Bramson from muscling onto the bank's board, ostensibly to force it to shrink its investment bank.
The U.S. hedge fund spent over $1 billion buying roughly 2.5 percent of Barclays in November 2017 at an average of 180p per share. After a high of 217p on March of last year when Tiger still had its stake in the bank, the shares have lost roughly a quarter of their value and closed at 159.5p on Friday.
