Barclays raises $876 million from African business share sale

LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) said on Thursday it had raised 603 million pounds ($875.50 million) from the sale of 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 South African lender as part of a plan to simplify the bank's structure, shore up its balance sheet and generate higher shareholder returns.

Following completion of placing, the British lender will hold 424.7 million ordinary shares in capital of Barclays (Swiss: BARC.SW - news) Africa, representing approximately 50.1 percent of its issued share capital.

The disposal is expected to result in a proforma increase of approximately 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 took part in the placing, but South Africa's state pension fund Public Investment Corporation (PIC) was in discussions on Wednesday to acquire up to 10.3 million shares.

PIC, Africa's largest fund manager with more than $122 billion of South African government employee pension assets under its custody, is already the second-biggest shareholder in BAG with a holding of about 6 percent. ($1 = 0.6888 pounds) (Reporting By Sinead Cruise, editing by Simon Jessop)