Barclays Falls as Qatar Sells Shares

LONDON (TheStreet) -- Qatar Holding intends to sell 379.2 million shares of U.K. bank Barclays(BCS Quote) and exercise an equal amount of warrants, but said it will remain a long-term shareholder.

Shares of Barclays were trading lower by 4.8% to 363.80 pence.

The exercise price of the warrants is 197.775 pence, Qatar Holding said Tuesday in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

"The decision to exercise the warrants and dispose of the resultant shares forms part of Qatar Holding's portfolio management program and does not impact on our current intention to remain a long-term strategic shareholder in Barclays," said Ahmad Al-Sayed, Qatar Holding's CEO in a statement.

Qatar Holding said the transaction would result in proceeds for Barclays of about 750 million pounds $1.23 billion).

"We are happy to be working with Qatar Holding on a placing derived from the exercise of some 50% of its warrants, Barclays CEO John Varley said. "The effect will be further to broaden the base of our share register.Qatar Holding is our largest shareholder and a key partner of the Barclays Group."

Barclays turned to investors from Qatar and Abu Dhabi in November for an injection of up to 7.3 billion pounds to shore up its balance sheet.