LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Barclays said on Thursdayit had raised 603 million pounds ($875.50 million) from the saleof a 12.2 percent stake in Barclays Africa Group,boosting its key capital ratio by 10 basis points.
Barclays is selling down its 62 percent stake in the SouthAfrican lender as part of a plan to simplify the bank'sstructure, shore up its balance sheet and generate highershareholder returns.
Following completion of placing, the British lender willhold 424.7 million ordinary shares in capital of BarclaysAfrica, representing approximately 50.1 percent of its issuedshare capital.
The disposal is expected to result in a proforma increase ofapproximately 10 basis points to its common equity tier 1 ratio,a key measure of the bank's financial strength.
Barclays did not give any details on the investors who tookpart in the placing, but South Africa's state pension fundPublic Investment Corporation (PIC) was in discussions onWednesday to acquire up to 10.3 million shares.
PIC, Africa's largest fund manager with more than $122billion of South African government employee pension assetsunder its custody, is already the second-biggest shareholder inBAG with a holding of about 6 percent.($1 = 0.6888 pounds) (Reporting By Sinead Cruise, editing by Simon Jessop)