Barclays says it has agreed to sell as much as 19 percent of itself to the state-controlled China Development Bank and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings to fund a fresh 67.5 billion euros ($93.1 billion) bid for ABN Amro, MarketWatch reports.
Barclays said the two firms will invest as much as 13.4 billion euros — roughly 19 percent of the U.K. bank’s current market value — with 3.6 billion euros coming immediately and the remainder conditional on a successful bid for Dutch rival ABN.
The deal allows Barclays to lift its offer from around 64.6 billion euros and also to include cash in its bid for the first time.
The latest offer comprises 42.7 billion euros in shares and 24.8 billion euros in cash, and is worth 35.73 euros a share at Friday’s closing price, the U.K. bank said.
The bid, however, is still below the roughly 71 billion euros ($98 billion) being offered by Royal Bank of Scotland and its partners.
While the Barclays offer is currently valued below the RBS consortium, Barclays CEO John Varley told reporters he’s confident the bank’s growth prospects will help support its share price, boosting the value of the bid.
“They key time for the decision is not today, they key time for the decision is in September when ABN Amro shareholders will vote on the offer,” says Varley.