Barclays to raise £7.3 billion from Middle East

Barclays has announced it will raise £7.3 billion in new capital, through deals with the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Barclays proposes to raise £7.3 billion capital through new and existing investors, without calling on the UK government for help. It will issue £3 billion of reserve capital instruments with an annual coupon of 14 percent, and up to £4.3 billion of mandatorily convertible notes to Qatar Holding and Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Barclays estimates that the move will bring its Tier 1 capital ratio up to 11.3 percent. The bank also reported that group profits for the first nine months of 2008 would be up on last year’s results.