Barclays set for $500 million placing to cap share issue

LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays is expected to sell at least 300 million pounds ($487 million) of its shares in the market on Friday, as the British bank finds a home for shares not taken by existing investors in a 6 billion pound fundraising.

Barclays is raising the cash from a rights issue to fill a capital shortfall and bookrunners will on Friday sell the shares not taken. The size of the "rump" to be sold will be announced before the market opens.

About 92-95 percent of shareholders are expected to have signed up for the rights issue, which allows them to buy new shares at a discount, finance industry sources said on Thursday.

Barclays shares have held steady during the rights offer period, indicating take-up should be strong, although investors in China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Africa cannot take up the offer and some retail investors and institutions may opt not to.

China Development Bank and Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui <8316.T> are among the bank's top 20 shareholders after investing in 2008, according to Thomson Reuters data. It was unclear if they could participate through a nominee holder.

The sale of the rump and the start of trading for the new shares on Friday effectively marks the end of the bank's fundraising process.

Barclays offered investors the chance to buy one new share at 185 pence for every four shares they owned. It will raise 5.82 billion pounds, after expenses of 132 million, to help plug a capital shortfall identified by Britain's financial regulator in July.

Barclays shares fell 5 percent on July 30 when the cashcall was announced, but, adjusted for the dilutive impact of the new shares, have nudged 2 percent higher since. They closed on Thursday at 273 pence, up 0.2 percent on the day.

Antony Jenkins took over as Barclays chief executive a year ago and is trying to rebuild the banks reputation after a string of scandals. He said the rights issue would deal "quickly and decisively" with the regulator's demands.

The rights issue, the biggest by a British bank since 2009, will raise the equivalent of 15 percent of Barclays' market value. It allows existing shareholders to buy discounted shares first, giving them a chance to avoid being diluted.

New shares that are not taken up are sold in the market and the cash returned to those investors who have had their stake diluted. Banks have underwritten the offer, including the main advisers Credit Suisse , Deutsche Bank , Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citi .

Barclays was criticised in 2008 for a controversial fundraising with Middle East investors, which existing shareholders said did not observe pre-emption rights.

Barclays declined to comment. ($1 = 0.6162 British pounds)

(Reporting by Steve Slater; Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan. Editing by Jane Merriman)