ELTA.L Share News (ELTA)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Barclays PLC said Monday that activist investor Sherborne Investors Management LP had built a 5.2% stake in the FTSE 100-listed bank after transactions by a number of related parties last Thursday.

Barclays reported Sherborne Investors Management and its leading figures Edward Bramson and Stephen Welker had built a 331.5 million voting stake in the bank, equivalent to 5.2% of the 17.07 billion shares outstanding.

In response, Barclays said it was engaging with Sherborne.

"As with all its shareholders," the bank explained in a separate statement, "Barclays will continue to engage with Sherborne, and welcomes them as a shareholder."

In a separate announcement, Sherborne - which manages Sherborne Investors (Guernsey) C Ltd - said it had invested GBP580 million in Barclays to build the stake. It added that it believed that "its turnaround assumptions indicate a potential return on the investment in line with Sherborne Investors' customary return objectives".

The company added it reserved the right to increase or decrease its stake.

Sherborne and Bramson previously have taken stakes in other UK-listed financial firms. This included an increasingly acrimonious battle with the board of Electra Private Equity PLC after building a stake in early 2014.

Shares in Barclays were 3.3% higher at 216.50 pence on Monday, Sherborne Investors (Guernsey) C were 2.4% higher at 109.00 pence.