Forbes – Atticus Capital isn’t the only hedge fund which wants Barclays to give up its fight for Dutch lender ABN Amro. SeacliffCapital, a hedge fund in San Francisco, had its doubts from the moment market rumors started swirling that a deal was in the works.
“Barclays was one of our largest holdings,” Seacliff president James Ellman told Forbes.com. “It no longer is. We sold half our position.” Seacliff, which has $200 million of assetsunder management, sent an e-mail to Barclays management almost two months ago, and several more times since.
When Ellman finally got a chance to speak face-to-face with Barclays Chief Executive John Varley in the break room at a conference in the U.S., he was almostbeaten to the chase by 75 other investors. “It was standing room only. I certainly didn’t hear questions that were relatively positive. There was a great deal of skepticism,” he said.
Barclays closed up 0.1%, at 733.50 pence ($14.51), Tuesday. Investors have been more positive about the stock since Atticus, which owns 1% of the lender, wrote to Barclays Chairman Marcus Agius,requesting that he call off his bid for Dutch rival ABN Amro . The whiff of shareholder activism sent the shares up to close 1.6% higher on Monday.
