British bank Barclays Plc is to raise 7.3 billion pounds ($12.1 billion) from investors from Qatar and Abu Dhabi and others to allow it to avoid taking government rescue cash, it said on Friday.
Britain's second biggest bank said it is raising up to 3.5 billion pounds from Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family. That could give him a 16.3 percent stake in the bank.
It is raising up to 2 billion pounds from Qatar Holding and 300 million from Challenger, an investment vehicle of a member of Qatar's royal family. That could leave Qatar Holding with a 12.7 percent stake and Challenger with 2.8 percent.
Barclays also issued a trading update saying group profit in the first nine months of this year was "slightly ahead" of the same level a year earlier.
Barclays is seeking to raise up to a further 1.5 billion pounds from the sale of MCNs (mandatorily convertible notes) with existing and other investors.
The bank's shares rose strongly, and were up 9 percent at 224 pence by 0835 GMT.
Barclays earlier this month turned down an offer of government funds under Britain's 400 billion bailout package and said it would raise capital privately.
Rivals Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS have agreed to take up to 37 billion pounds of taxpayers' funds to help rebuild balance sheets hit by the credit crisis and prepare for possible recession.
Barclays said when the government's recapitalisation plan was announced that it planned to raise about 6.5 billion pounds, with 3 billion from the sale of preference shares and the rest from selling ordinary shares. It had until the end of March to raise funds.
Those sales were expected to increase the bank's core tier 1 capital ratio to about 8 percent, analysts estimated, up from 6.3 percent after a 4.5 billion pounds fundraising in July. It will lift its overall tier 1 ratio to above 11 percent from July's 9.1 percent.
Barclays has lost billions of pounds from credit-related asset writedowns and is faced with a sharply slowing UK housing market and economy, but it has fared better than many rivals.
It has raised funds from investors in China, Singapore and Japan as well as Qatar.
The bank expects to gain a competitive advantage by raising capital privately, while RBS and others will have the government as a major shareholder.
