Strong support for Barclays rights issue

A mammoth fundraising by Barclays has received strong support after 95% of the shares in the £5.8bn (€6.8bn) rights issue were taken up.

The bank offered the new shares at a deeply-discounted price. The move was part of its “bold but balanced plan” for meeting demands from regulators that it plug a £12.8bn hole in its finances.

Barclays reported 94.6% take-up for the shares in the offer yesterday, with the remainder offered in the wider market by underwriters.

Boss Antony Jenkins is leading a crusade to overhaul the culture at the bank, with a major restructuring in the wake of last year’s Libor scandal.

However the bank’s reputation has taken further blows after it revealed it is facing a £50m fine over claims it acted “recklessly” in its multi-billion pound bailouts from Qatar in 2008.

The 185-page prospectus for the rights issue also disclosed it would have to pay £100m in refunds to around 300,000 customers after making errors in loan paperwork.

Bob Diamond, former CEO, who was forced out of the bank in the wake of its Libor scandal in 2012, was among those to buy shares in the rights issue.