Deals
Barclays Should Break Up, Spin Off Lehman, Bernstein Says
- Jes Staley should also exit Africa, sell U.S. cards business
- Bernstein cuts earnings forecast, price target in note
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Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley should take the “big decisions” to spin off its investment bank and sell its Africa unit to fix the U.K. lender, which trades at about 40 percent less than its book value, according to Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.
Staley’s best option is to break up the bank with an initial public offering of a reconstituted Lehman Brothers and a sale of the U.S. credit card business, analyst Chirantan Barua wrote Friday in an open letter to the CEO. The new American securities unit would require $6 billion of funding and should be listed in 2020 or 2021 with a new management team, he said.