Abu Dhabi increases its stake in Barclays

Abu Dhabi has raised its stake in Barclays to 5.2% by paying $1.9bn to exercise warrants it took as part of a fundraising by the UK bank two years ago, Reuters has reported. Wednesday's purchase by the emirate increases Barclays' core Tier 1 capital to 10.4% from 10%. Barclays said Abu Dhabi had exercised 626.8 million of its warrants at the agreed price of 197.75 pence per share. It still holds 131.6 million warrants, which could lift its shareholding by a further 1.1%, according to the news service.