Barclays said it will sell shares worth £2.2 billion in Barclays Africa Group increasing the size of a stake sale due to investor appetite and marking a completion of its planned selldown.
The bigger than expected sale will take Barclays' stake in the Africa business to just 15%, the level the bank said it eventually aimed to reach.
The move draws to a close Barclays' 90-year history as a major presence in African banking, but will be seen as a big boost for chief executive Jes Staley, who wants the lender to focus on Britain and the US.
Barclays had said earlier this week that it would sell shares worth £1.5 billion, reducing its shareholding to 28% in its second such sale since the British bank announced in early 2016 its intention to offload most of its African business.
But strong demand meant it was able to increase the sale size to 285.7 million shares.
Barclays is partly relying on funds raised from the sale to meet capital requirements that were identified as a concern by the Bank of England in a November "stress test" aimed at gauging its ability to withstand financial shocks.
The bank said the sale is expected to result in an increase of approximately 27 basis points to its March 2017 core capital ratio, a key measure of financial strength, which at stood at 12.5%.
Barclays said the South African pension fund Public Investment Corporation would buy 59 million of the shares or 7%. This would up its holding in the business to 14% according to Thomson Reuters data.
Barclays announced in March 2016 it would sell most of its 62.3% stake in Barclays Africa Group, giving itself two to three years to complete the sale.
Its first selldown of 12.2% was completed in May 2016, but the bank had since been hindered by the regulatory delay and political upheaval in South Africa.
