Barclays offloads UK loans portfolio to Goldman Sachs-led consortium
Barclays continued its asset sell-off yesterday, offloading its UK secured lending arm to a consortium led by Goldman Sachs.
Since chief executive Antony Jenkins was replaced in July, the bank has picked up the pace of its cost-cutting under chairman John McFarlane. Earlier this month, it sold most of its Portuguese business, representing a £1.7bn decrease in its risk weighted assets.
Barclays sold the portfolio of UK loans, which has a notional worth of £1.6bn, or £1.2bn when adjusted for risk, to a group including Goldman Sachs, Elderbridge, which buys and administers loans and UK private equity group Pollen Street Capital for an undisclosed sum.
Barclays inherited the loans from its purchase of Woolwich building society in 2003.
McFarlane said: “We continue to make solid progress in divesting assets from Barclays non-core. The sale of UK Secured Lending is further evidence of our ability to reduce these legacy assets, as we target a Risk Weighted Assets figure of around £20bn in 2017.”