US hedge fund Tiger Global has invested more than $1bn to Britain’s Barclays (LON:BARC) in a bet that CEO Jess Staley will restore Barclay’s investment bank prowess.
The $24 bn US hedge fund, which usually invests in technology companies, has become one of the top 10 investors of Barclays, suggesting they believe the bank deserves a rebound.
Last November when Barclay’s shares drop to a 52-week low of less than 180p, the New-York-based fund bought a 2.5 percent stake.
Tiger Global’s purchase shows the fund is backing Barclay’s chief executive Jes Staley strategy to focus more on the US-led investment bank and the UK-based consumer banking operation.
Details of the purchase haven’t been disclosed officially. Tiger Global and Barclays have made no comments.
In addition, Staley, who was hired by the British Bank almost two years ago, is still under ongoing investigation by both UK and US regulators on his intentions of exposing a supposedly ‘whistleblower’. This has raised doubts about his job.
Furthermore, last Wednesday Barclays announced they were cutting up to 100 senior jobs due to discouraging results in the division of the third quarter. Investment banks have struggled lately to make returns due to higher regulations and more pressure on fees. In 2016 Barclays had to cut a total of 10,000 employees.
Finally, Barclays is also facing a huge fine in the US over the fraud of mortgage securities.
Shares in Barclays were trading today at 205.9p.
Tiger Global Management, LLC was funded in 2001. Based in New York they also have offices Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangalore; India and Melbourne, Australia. They are better known to invest in technology, global internet and industry, but they are slowly moving across other sectors, as well as venturing capital in private startups like Spotify and Airbnb.
In 2017 Tiger Global anonymously sold Tesco short executed by an entity known as Delores Holdings Ltd, based in the Cayman Islands.