LONDON, Oct 31: British bank Barclays said on Friday it would raise $11.7 billion (9.3 billion euros), most of it from oil-rich investors in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, to bolster finances amid the global credit crunch.

The new capital means that Barclays will not have to receive funding from the British government, unlike some of its competitors, amid the international financial crisis.

“The board of directors of Barclays today announces a proposal to raise up to 7.3 billion pounds of additional capital from existing and new strategic and institutional investors,” the bank said in a statement.

The cash injection would see Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a new investor and the owner of English Premier League football club Manchester City, owning as much as 16.3 per cent of Barclays.

The Gulf state of Qatar, meanwhile, could ramp up its stake to 15.5 per cent from the current level of 8.1 per cent.

The announcement also ensures that Barclays meets higher capital targets which were set by Britain’s Financial Services Authority earlier this month.

Barclays, which last month bought the US investment banking arm of now collapsed Lehman Brothers, also issued a trading update in which it said that pre-tax profits for the first three quarters of 2008 were “slightly ahead” of the same period last year.

It added that it had credit market writedowns of 1.2 billion pounds, but said these were mostly offset by gains made elsewhere.

The bank said that sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding will invest two billion pounds, and has subscribed for warrants to purchase a further 1.5 billion pounds of ordinary Barclays shares.

Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Al Nahyan, meanwhile, will provide 3.5 billion pounds, and has also subscribed for 1.5 billion pounds in ordinary share warrants.

Challenger, an investment vehicle which is owned by Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, the chairman of Qatar Holding, will invest a further 300 million pounds into Barclays.

The remaining 1.5 billion pounds will be issued to other institutional investors.

“Given the continuing uncertainties in world capital markets, the board of Barclays resolved to satisfy the capital raising requirements agreed with the UK authorities without delay,” Barclays chairman Marcus Agius said.

“This we have done. The board believes that this maintains Barclays as a strong, independent and well capitalised bank.” In June, Barclays announced a share issue to raise 4.5 billion pounds.

Barclays is the latest international bank to raise new capital by issuing shares in a bid to bolster finances which have been hammered by losses related to the collapse of the US subprime or high-risk home loan sector.—AFP