(Adds details of share sale, background)
LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui BankingCorp (SMBC) has sold a 260 million pound ($400 million)stake in Barclays, about half its holding in theBritish bank.
SMBC said it sold 84.5 million shares at 308.5 pence apiecevia an accelerated share placing. The shares were sold by Nomura, people familiar with the matter said.
SMBC said the share sale was for the "capital efficiency" ofits parent Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.
The Japanese bank bought 169 milliion shares in Barclays at296p in June 2008 as part of a series of fundraisings during thefinancial crisis. It still held those shares last month,according to Thomson Reuters data, making it the bank's seventh-biggest shareholder with a stake of about 1.3 percent.
The share sale was completed just before Thursday's Londonstock market opening. By 0825 GMT, Barclays shares were down 2.4percent at 308.7p.
SMBC invested alongside investors from Qatar, Singapore andChina in its 4.5 billion pound fundraising in June 2008.Barclays has said its deal with Qatar is being investigated byUK and U.S. authorities over certain commercial agreementsbetween the two sides.
Barclays said at the time of the fundraising SMBC'sinvestment would open the door to closer cooperation between thebanks, and in July 2010 they set up a joint private bankingventure with Nikko Cordial Securities for wealthy customers inJapan, called SMBC Barclays Wealth Division.
SMBC said the share sale would have no impact on itsbusiness cooperation with Barclays. ($1 = 0.6497 British pounds) (Reporting by Steve Slater and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing bySinead Cruise and David Holmes)
Barclays (BARC)