Monday 17 November 2008

Barclays again

A bit more news from The Grauniad:

Pressure is mounting on John Varley, Barclays chief executive, and his boardroom colleagues amid growing shareholder opposition to the bank's £7bn fundraising plan.

Pirc, the body that advises pension funds and other major investors, is today urging shareholders to oppose the controversial capital raising at next week's extraordinary shareholder meeting. It wants shareholders to send directors a "clear unequivocal message" that the new investors from the Middle East are not a good solution to the need to raise funds.

The deal is already facing criticism from RREV, which also advises pension funds, and corporate governance advisory group RiskMetrics Group. The Barclays chairman, Marcus Agius, tried to convince major City investors of the merits of the fundraising at a meeting at the Association of British Insurers, which also has concerns about the fundraising, last week.

I still think they will get through the vote ok though.

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