The merger acquisition carousel took another turn today with news that the UK lender is selling off its Americas wealth and investment arm, confirming recent speculation.

UK-listed Barclays has agreed to sell its Americas wealth and investment management arm to US-based Stifel Financial Corp, confirming media speculation of a week ago that such a transaction was in the works.
The transaction is slated to close in the middle of November this year, subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions, Barclays said in a statement today.

As a result of the deal, it is intended that clients of Barclays' Wealth & Investment Management Americas franchise will become clients of Stifel when the transaction is closed, the statement said. The acquisition includes Barclays Wealth Trustees (US) NA and all associated accounts.

Terms of sale weren’t disclosed and Barclays said the transaction is expected to have a “minimal impact on reported financials”.

Shares in Barclays were down around 1 per cent at 15:00 local time in the UK, at 262.8 per share.
The business that Stifel has agreed to acquire is the old Lehman Brothers brokerage bought by Barclays in the wake of the 2008 financial crash; at the time the deal was seen as a clever piece of business for the Barclays chief executive at the time, Bob Diamond.

“With a long history of servicing clients in the investment sector, and an existing sizeable global wealth management franchise, Stifel will be able to offer a broader product range. In addition, Stifel will also be the private wealth distribution partner for certain of Barclays' equities and credit new issue securities in the US,” the statement continued.

Barclays' chief executive of global wealth and investment management, Akshaya Bhargava, said: "We are pleased to have been able to find in Stifel a buyer that is committed to helping the franchise to grow over the long term, and providing for our clients an expanded range of products and services.  "Barclays remains committed to its international wealth and investment management business, which is a successful and growing part of the Barclays Group, and to its other businesses in the US.”

Stifel chairman and chief executive Ron Kruszewski has acquired several, mostly troubled retail brokerage and investment banking firms since 2005. The St Louis firm that specialized in municipal bonds is now a national presence serving individual investors and middle-market companies. 

The transaction comes after Stifel's agreement in February to buy Alabama-based Sterne Agee Group for about $150 million. Sterne Agee has about 730 brokers, who together with those now working at Barclays Wealth Americas, would bring the Stifel brokerage force to more than 3,000 people.