Al Habtoor Group, the owner of hotels in Dubai, plans to increase its stake in Barclays bank to as much as 2.5 per cent, its chairman said.
"We have a good stake in the bank and we intend to raise it [to around] two per cent or 2.5 per cent," Khalaf Al Habtoor said. "The price is very attractive [and] we have confidence in the bank's strength and the UK's regulatory sys-tem," he added.
Al Habtoor has set aside as much as $400 million for investments and acquis-itions this year and may borrow to add to the amount, Al Habtoor said. The hotelier currently owns 1.4 per cent of Barclays, the UK's third-largest bank.
On Tuesday, the shares closed at 259.05 pence, valuing a 1.1 per cent stake at around $394 million.
Barclays raised 5.3 billion pounds ($8.7 billion) in October by selling secur-ities, including convertible notes, to a group of Middle Eastern investors.
Qatar Investment Authority is the bank's largest shareholder with a 5.8 per cent stake.
Last year, the bank said it sold a stake to Al Habtoor along with other investors as it aimed to raise 4.5 billion pounds ($7.4 billion).
PCP Gulf Invest 1, owned by the International Petroleum Investment in Abu Dhabi, made a profit of around $2.4 billion earlier this month when it sold its Barclays stake only seven months after it helped the bank avoid a bailout by the UK government.
Al Habtoor said the company may buy shares "in the open market sometime this summer".
An investment in Barclays is currently "better than buying properties and waiting for yearly rental returns," he said, saying there was now more trans-parency in the banking sector, due to the downturn.
© 7Days 2009
