Barclays shares soared nearly 23% on Monday on hopes that the bank will avoid UK government intervention by selling off part of its asset management arm. Barclays confirmed it was in talks to sell iShares, its exchange-traded funds business, driving up its shares and bringing its market value to £7.6bn. The bank also said it had enjoyed a “strong start” to the year, echoing upbeat trading statements from US banks such as Citigroup. See FT Alphaville on how Barclays is “spinning out of control”.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 4:53 and is filed under Capital markets, M&A. Tagged with barclays, ishares. Edit this entry.