Sumitomo sells half its stake in Barclays

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jun/06/barclays-sumitomo-mitsui-bank-sells-shares

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Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Bank has sold a £260m stake in Barclays, about half its holding in the British bank, which it acquired during the financial crisis. Sumitomo sold 84.5m shares at 308.5p through the broker Nomura.

The Japanese bank bought 169m shares in Barclays at 296p in June 2008 as part of a series of fundraisings during the financial crisis. It still held those shares last month, according to Thomson Reuters data, making it the bank's seventh-biggest shareholder, with a stake of about 1.3%.

The share sale was completed just before Thursday's London stock market opening and Barclays shares were the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 by the time market closed, down 4% at 303p.

Sumitomo invested in Barclays alongside investors from Qatar, Singapore and China in June 2008. Barclays has said its deal with Qatar is being investigated by UK and US authorities over certain commercial agreements between the two sides.

Barclays said at the time of the fundraising that Sumitomo's investment would open the door to closer co-operation between the banks, and in July 2010 they set up a joint private banking venture with Nikko Cordial Securities for wealthy customers in Japan, called SMBC Barclays Wealth Division.