Barclays nears deal to offload UK payments business to Brookfield - report

According to Sky News, the two companies are in the final stages of talks about a transaction that will initially see Brookfield acquiring 10% of the UK bank's merchant acquiring division.

Three years after the deal completes, Brookfield would then acquire a further 80% of the unit, leaving Barclays as a 10% shareholder.

Sources told Sky that unusually, the agreement being finalised would see Barclays injecting £400m into the payments division in order to fund investment in returning it to sustainable growth.

Barclays would also provide roughly £250m of regulatory capital required to secure approval for the deal, they added.

According to Sky, a deal could be announced as early as next week, although it is more likely to be publicly confirmed later this month.

Barclays announced in February 2024 that it was exploring a sale or partnership for the merchant acquiring division.