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By John O'Donnell
FRANKFURT, May 7 (Reuters) - Activist investor Edward
Bramson has sold his firm's 6% stake in Barclays,
disbanding a three-year effort to overhaul the British bank and
ending a stand-off with its chief executive Jes Staley.
Sherborne Investors had pressured Staley to scale back
investment banking and demanded his removal over his links to
U.S. financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but
Bramson, although backed by major funds including Aviva and
Schroders, struggled to gain much traction.
Sherborne said it had now identified another company to
invest in but did not name it, while Barclays declined to
comment.
"Business is not a science and so people of goodwill may,
therefore, sometimes differ. In that spirit, Sherborne Investors
expresses its most sincere wish that things will turn out well
for Barclays, its employees, and its investors, Sherborne
Investors Management said in a statement.
Barclays shares have fallen roughly 15% since Sherbone first
declared its stake in Barclays in March 2018.
The stock opened up 1.5% on Friday.
When Sherborne first invested, Barclays had been under
pressure to bolster profits after Staley's aggressive push in
investment banking since he joined in 2015 failed to
significantly lift returns.
However a strong showing by the investment bank helped it
weather the COVID-19 pandemic, bolstering Staley's argument that
it needed a diversified business to cope in a recession.
Bramson had urged Barclays' board to replace Staley after
the UK regulator said it was examining his links with Jeffrey
Epstein, but failed to win support.
Staley has said he regrets having a professional
relationship with Epstein, who killed himself while awaiting
trial on sex trafficking charges.
Sherborne invested 580 million pounds in Barclays' shares
and derivatives but the investment did little to lift its
fortunes.
The net asset value of the Sherborne fund is currently 79
pence per share, it said, compared to 99 pence in December 2017
before it made the Barclays investment.
(Reporting By John O'Donnell
Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Elaine Hardcastle)
