Victhom

Cramer's Lightning Round -Barclays Is Scary (2/20/09)

Hey Jim if JPM is "OVERWEIGHT" at P/E of 32??
with Target of $60...I guess Barclays at P/E of 4.83 at $18 is takeover target LOL and should be $45-$50 soon or later???

JP Morgan estimates raised at Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley raised JP Morgan estimates due to the smaller than expected equity raise to pay back TARP. Shares are Overweight rated with a $60 target. :theflyonthewall

Cramer's Lightning Round - Jamie Dimon Is the Next Warren Buffett (5/4/09)

Alphin stop lying.....You are not healthy...you need more $$$$ for god sakes???

“There are several ways to deal with this,” Mr. Alphin said. “The company is very healthy.”

www.nytimes.com/2009/0...


U.S. Says Bank of America Needs $33.9 Billion L. ANDREWS
Published: May 5, 2009
The government has told Bank of America it needs $33.9 billion in capital to withstand any worsening of the economic downturn, according to an executive at the bank, a determination that could make the United States the controlling shareholder in the bank.



Executives sparred with the government over the amount, which is higher than executives believed the bank needed. But J. Steele Alphin, the bank’s chief administrative officer, said Bank of America would have plenty of options to raise the capital on its own before it would have to convert any of taxpayer money into common stock, a move that would effectively increase the government’s holdings in the troubled bank.

“We’re not happy about it because it’s still a big number,” Mr. Alphin said. “We think it should be a bit less at the end of the day.”

Because Bank of America has already received $45 billion in federal assistance from the Treasury in exchange for preferred shares, it could satisfy regulators’ demands simply by converting the non-voting preferred shares to common stock.

Financial markets in Asia slumped 11 percent in early trading as investors questioned whether the results of the government’s stress tests of the nation’s 19 largest banks, whose assets represent about two-thirds of the nation’s financial system, would show more weakness in the financial system than hoped.

The Treasury Department declined to comment on Tuesday evening.

Under the arrangement worked out between the Treasury and Citigroup earlier this year, the Treasury will receive mandatory convertible preferred shares, meaning preferred shares that can be converted to voting shares of common stock at the will of the government.

If Bank of America relied on that conversion for the majority of the capital it needs to maintain, the govnerment wouildj become the nbakjn’s controlling shareholder.

Regulators have told the banks that the common shares would bolster their “tangible common equity,” a measure of capital that places greater emphasis on the resources that a bank has at its disposal than the more traditional measure of “Tier One” capital.

Citigroup, the largest and most deeply troubled of the banks, is expected to need to raise capital as insurance against any further downturn in the economy. The government told the bank it would need $50 to $55 billion in capital, a requirement that would force it to raise $5 billion to $10 billion in new capital, according to people briefed on the final results. Citigroup executives say the bank can easily cover any shortfall, and is considering several options to close that gap.

The Obama administration plans to publicize the results of stress tests on Thursday. The results are expected to reveal that a number of them need additional capital, and many banks have negotiated with the government on what the actual capital requirements should be since they learned of the preliminary findings last week.

The tests are also expected to show that several banks, including Bank of New York Mellon, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, are healthy enough to repay TARP funds.

Mr. Alpin noted that the $34 billion figure is well below the $45 billion in capital that the government has already allocated to the bank, although he said the bank has plenty of options to raise the capital on its own.

“There are several ways to deal with this,” Mr. Alphin said. “The company is very healthy.”

Bank executives estimate that the company will generate $30 billion a year in income, once a normal environment returns.

The company has faced criticism over its acquisition of Merrill Lynch, the troubled investment bank, and last week, shareholders voted to strip the bank’s chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, of his title as chairman of the board. The board said last week that it still unanimously supports Mr. Lewis in his role as chief executive.

Mr. Alphin said since the government figure is less than the $45 billion provided to Bank of America, the bank will now start looking at ways of repaying the $11 billion difference over time to the government.

In the case of Citigroup, which has also received two taxpayer lifelines, executives say the bank can easily cover any shortfall, and is considering several options to close that gap.

Among them are efforts to accelerate the sales of several businesses within Citi Holdings, a holding tank for assets it plans to shed, or to expand its common stock conversion plans to a broader base of private investors who hold Citigroup preferred stock. Both measures would avoid an increase in the government’s expected 36 percent ownership stake.

Taxpayer-supported Banks have been eager to wean themselves from the government’s purvue, and many analysts have questioned how useful the stress tests will be in assessing their true health.

Also Tuesday, senior government officials said the Treasury Department is planning to require taxpayer-supported banks seeking to free themselves from the government’s grip to show that they can repay the lifelines without additional subsidies that have helped them survive the financial crisis.

Banks have had an indirect subsidy adopted by the government last fall that allows them to issue debt cheaply with the backing of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The Treasury is expected to announce as early as Wednesday that healthier banks must show that they can issue debt without the guarantees before they are allowed to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

The banks also must demonstrate that they will be able to sell stock to private investors and pass a government stress test to show that they are healthy enough to survive without the taxpayer aid.

The Obama administration plans to publicize the results of stress tests for the nation’s 19 largest banks on Thursday. The results are expected to reveal that some need additional capital.

Cramer's Lightning Round - Jamie Dimon Is the Next Warren Buffett (5/4/09)

China Construction Falls as Bank of America May Sell

China Construction Falls as Bank of America May Sell (Update1)
Share | Email | Print | A A A

By John Liu

May 6 (Bloomberg) -- China Construction Bank Corp., the world’s second-largest lender by market value, dropped in Hong Kong on concern that Bank of America Corp. may sell part of its holding when a lockup on the stake expires tomorrow.

Bank of America can sell as many as 13.5 billion shares of China Construction, or 6 percent of the Chinese lender’s outstanding shares traded in Hong Kong, on May 7, according to an earlier agreement. The U.S. bank may begin seeking bids from investors, two fund managers who have been approached by investment banks seeking to arrange the sale said on May 4.

China Construction dropped 1.7 percent to HK$4.69 in Hong Kong as of 10:53 a.m., after the Financial Times said Bank of America is considering selling part of its stake. The stock has gained 8.7 percent this year, the second-worst performer among China’s six banks traded in Hong Kong.

China Construction’s Beijing-based spokesman Yu Baoyue said the bank hasn’t received any notice from Bank of America about a possible sale.

U.S. and European financial companies have been selling shares in Chinese banks to replenish capital eroded by the global credit crisis. Allianz SE and American Express Co. sold a combined $1.9 billion of shares in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. last week.

U.S. regulators have determined that Bank of America has the largest need for new capital among 19 biggest U.S. banks subjected to stress tests, according to people familiar with the matter. Bank of America already raised $2.8 billion selling China Construction shares in January.

Bank of America is weighing an immediate sale of the China Construction stake versus one in a few weeks’ time, according to the Financial Times.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Liu in Shanghai at [e-mail]

Cramer's Lightning Round - Jamie Dimon Is the Next Warren Buffett (5/4/09)

HEY JIM YOU SAID LOAD UP Bank of America...Right???

Read this folks...LOL

BofA to need $34 billion in capital: source
On Tuesday May 5, 2009, 9:54 pm EDT
Bank of America Corporation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - News) has been deemed to need an additional $34 billion in capital, according to the results of a government stress test, a source familiar with the results said on Tuesday.


Reuters - People walk past a branch of Bank of America in New York's financial district April 28, 2009. REUTERS/Brendan ...

Related Quotes
Symbol Price Change
BAC 10.84 +0.46


A Bank of America spokesman declined comment.

(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski; Editing Bernard Orr)

Cramer's Lightning Round - Jamie Dimon Is the Next Warren Buffett (5/4/09)

Great NEWS FROM Detroit JIM...LOL


DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (NYSE:GM - News) on Tuesday detailed plans to all but wipe out the holdings of remaining shareholders by issuing up to 60 billion new shares in a bid to pay off debt to the U.S. government, bondholders and the United Auto Workers

The unusual plan, which was detailed in a filing with U.S. securities regulators, would only need the approval of the U.S. Treasury to proceed since the U.S. government would be the majority shareholder of a new GM, the company said.

The flood of new stock issuance that could be unleashed has been widely expected by analysts who have long warned that GM's shares could be worthless whether the company restructures out of court or in bankruptcy.

The debt-for-equity exchanges detailed in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission would leave GM's stock investors with just 1 percent of the equity in a restructured automaker, ending a long run when the Dow component was seen as a bellwether for the strength of the broader U.S. economy.

GM shares closed on Tuesday at $1.85 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock would be worth just over 1 cent if the first phase of GM's restructuring moves forward as described.

Once GM has issued new shares to pay off its debt to the U.S. government, bondholders and its major union, it said it would then undertake a 1-for-100 reverse stock split.

Such a move would take the nominal value of the stock back to near where it had been before the flood of new shares. But in the process, GM's existing shareholders would see their stake in the 100-year-old automaker all but wiped out.

Cramer's Lightning Round -Barclays Is Scary (2/20/09)

www.thestreet.com/stor...

Cramer's Lightning Round -Barclays Is Scary (2/20/09)

Cramer is a "MANIPULATOR" read..I prove it...watch date....

seekingalpha.com/artic...

Barclays (BCS): “No! We are talking about a bank that is in grave trouble. No European banks are investible, nor do I want to invest in any of their securities.”


Cramer: Dangerous Debt
01/26/09 - 09:52 AM EST

Random musings: Barclays(BCS Quote - Cramer on BCS - Stock Picks) makes it? They actually didn't blow up? It's interesting to see what happens to a bank when it reports decent numbers. It can go higher.

Now this....

seekingalpha.com/artic...

Barclays (BCS): “Such a sell it's scary…”???

Read this JIM....you need it....

"We have committed to recommencing dividend payments during the second half of 2009. Thereafter, and as previously announced, dividend payments will be made on a quarterly basis. We will set out our dividend policy at the Annual General Meeting in April."
Mr Varley Barclays CEO


Barclays Bags Best Of Lehman, On The Cheap
Tina Wang, 09.16.08, 10:19 PM ET

Barclays has circled back to pick up the pieces of Lehman Brothers Holdings, agreeing to acquire business operations and real estate holdings from the failed investment bank for about $1.75 billion.

The British bank will buy Lehman's North American investment banking and capital markets operations, with a 10,000-strong staff, for the fire-sale price of $250 million, Barclays said in a statement Tuesday.

It will also pay close to current market value for Lehman's New York headquarters and its two data centers in New Jersey, estimated to be worth a total of $1.5 billion. Barclays President Robert Diamond called the proposed acquisition a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for his company.

Barclays valued the Lehman (nyse: LEH - news - people ) trading assets it plans to acquire at $72 billion and Lehman's trading liabilities that it will take on at $68 billion.

Barclays (nyse: BCS - news - people ) waited for Lehman's parent company to file for bankruptcy protection and then moved in on the securities unit while it was still operating and with its staff mostly intact, allowing it to dictate terms.

Barclays said that some shareholders were supportive of the proposed transaction and expressed interest in upping their holdings, which would inject at least $1 billion in additional equity to the firm. The company had withdrawn an earlier bid over the weekend because the federal government refused to provide a backstop for the deal the way it had for Bear Stearns.

Waiting until Lehman Chief Executive Dick Fuld had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was a shrewd move because it allowed Barclay's to take only the parts of the company it wanted, essentially the talented personnel, and leave behind the remaining holding company and its toxic balance sheet. However, there was still a rush to close the deal, because if Lehman employees began abandoning ship as the clock ticked, the firm's operations wouldn't be worth as much.

The risk to Barclays was that by waiting for the Lehman parent company to file for bankruptcy protection, it opened the door for another bidder to come in and set a deal for the entire firm. But the only serious competition seems to have been Bank of America, which decided it would rather own the less-troubled Merrill Lynch instead. (See "Shrewd Buy For BofA" )




Barclays buys Expobank for £373m

By Sean Farrell


Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Barclays has agreed to buy Russia's Expobank for £373m in its first international acquisition since losing out in the battle for ABN Amro.


The British bank is paying cash for 100 per cent of Expobank to expand in retail and commercial banking in Russia, where its Barclays Capital investment bank already does business. Expobank was founded in 1994 and has 32 branches in western Russia, including Moscow and St Petersburg.

Analysts said the price, at four times Expobank's net asset value, was hefty but that the acquisition was relatively small and gave Barclays a place in an increasingly important market. Russia is in the middle of a consumer boom driven by its 10th straight year of economic growth. The economy expanded by 8.1 per cent last year.

Barclays wants to increase its business in high-growth emerging markets. It lost out to Royal Bank of Scotland last year in the battle for ABN Amro, which would have given it a retail banking business in Russia as well as highly desirable licences in Asia.

Frits Seegers, chief executive of Barclays' global retail and commercial banking business, said: "Expobank is a well-run bank with a good track record of innovative distribution and represents a great opportunity for Barclays.

"Its existing relationships and infrastructure create the ideal platform for us to become one of the leading retail and commercial banks in Russia."

Barclays is buying the stake from Petropavlovsk Finance. The deal is expected to close in the summer and Barclays expects to generate economic profit and a return on equity significantly above the cost of equity by 2011.



Barclays completes acquisition of Bank Akita
3rd February 2009
By Staff Writer

UK-based Barclays has completed the acquisition of Bank Akita, which was announced initially in September 2008, following the approval of the Central Bank of Indonesia.


Barclays said that Akita will form part of Barclays global retail and commercial banking (GRCB) emerging markets business. Barclays intends to rebrand Akita as Barclays Bank Indonesia, at an appropriate date, subject to the necessary approvals.

Following the acquisition, and subject to regulatory approval, Samir Gupta has been nominated as the managing director of Barclays Bank Indonesia and will report to Ahmed Khan, CEO of Barclays GRCB emerging markets. Prior to this appointment, Mr Gupta held the position of retail director for Barclays GRCB emerging markets.

Mr Khan said: "The acquisition of Akita is an excellent fit with Barclays strategy of increasing its presence, over time, in emerging markets with good growth characteristics. Indonesia is a very attractive market, with the fourth largest population in the world, strong economic growth and a low penetration of banking products. It is an exciting opportunity, not just for Barclays, but for the Indonesian consumer who will have access to the global scale and skills of one of the world's leading universal banks."


Morgan Stanley bought Goldfish from Lloyds TSB for $1.7bn in 2006.

NOW Barclays bags Goldfish for £36m ($70m) WOW!!!

Barclays also bought Lehman's good assets for $1.75B

THIS IS BETTER THAN JAMIE DIMON DEAL...!!!LOL



Barclays bags Goldfish for £36m ($70m)

By Sean Farrell


Friday, 8 February 2008

Barclays HAS bought the Goldfish credit card business from Discover Financial Services of the US for a knock-down price of $70m (£36m).


Britain's biggest credit card lender will get 1.7 million accounts with about $4bn (£2.1bn) of customer borrowings in the cash deal.

Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclaycard, said yesterday: "Goldfish has similar credit characteristics to our existing UK business. The combination provides an attractive opportunity to deploy our expertise across a larger number of cards and customers."

Discover was spun off by Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, in June. Morgan Stanley bought Goldfish from Lloyds TSB for $1.7bn in 2006.

Goldfish has not been good for Discover. The UK business posted losses in 2006 and 2007 as bad debts mounted. The US company said it would take charges of $190m to $210m in the first quarter of this year. It wrote down$391m of goodwill for the business before tax in the fourth quarter.

Discover said the deal would free capital that it could use in its US business, and that it would get out of the UK after the deal closed by the end of May.

Barclays is understood to have bought the business in an opportunistic move. It did not say whether it would keep the Goldfish name or wrap the operation into its Barclaycard brand.

Cramer's Lightning Round -Barclays Is Scary (2/20/09)

Wednesday, 20 February 2008

Don't believe all the doom and gloom you read in the press on the future of banking and the economy. That's the message from John Varley, chief executive of Barclays. Despite the sub-prime meltdown, profits at Britain's third largest bank remain relatively buoyant with the outlook, though not exactly upbeat, characterised as a good deal better than the bombed-out share price would suggest.


Mr Varley doesn't want to be seen as having his head buried in the sand. The banking sector remains in a thick fog of uncertainty, with still acute shortages of liquidity and confidence at rock bottom. Yet people are still borrowing and spending, the corporate sector by the standards of past downturns is in fine fettle, and stock market concern over capital adequacy and earnings sustainability seem to him to be overdone.

To underline the point, Mr Varley committed himself to an average annual rate of growth over the next four years in economic profit – that is profits after the cost of capital, risk and acquired goodwill – of 5 to 10 per cent. That doesn't mean he'll achieve such a target this year. Even his ever optimistic lieutenant at Barclays Capital, Bob Diamond, would find that a big ask. But though the goal is challenging, he believes it should be possible to make up for any shortfall later on as the banking system recovers.

In the meantime, Barclays is upping the dividend, and sees in the current turbulence excellent opportunities for bolt-on acquisitions achieved at knockdown prices. These aren't the remarks and actions of a chief executive who thinks that any time soon he's going to have to hand round the begging bowl for more capital. To the contrary, Mr Varley believes he's already got all the capital he needs for planned balance-sheet growth.

Are these reassuring noises, which are likely to be repeated by Royal Bank of Scotland when it announces results next week, going to convince investors? Mr Varley thinks three things need to happen before confidence is restored to the banking sector, allowing share prices to recover.

One is greater clarity of writedowns, which should be delivered by the current reporting season. A second is improved liquidity, which has again deteriorated in recent weeks and may need to be addressed with further central bank action. A third is to find a long-term solution to the monolines, the bond insurers whose parlous state hangs like a dark cloud over large parts of the credit markets.

As for capital, Mr Varley points out that his tier-one ratio is actually higher than it was a year ago at 7.8 per cent, despite a 20 per cent growth in weighted assets. At 5.1 per cent, the closely watched core equity ratio is only marginally below target and well above regulatory minimums.

Tangible equity to assets is below the level regarded as safe in the US, but Mr Varley argues the measure is largely irrelevant to Barclays and anyway will quite rapidly be restored through normal cash flows. The body language is not that of a man who feels under any kind of regulat-ory pressure to raise more capital. Either Mr Varley is living on planet Zog, or the markets have got it completely wrong on Barclays. We'll see.

Cramer's Lightning Round -Barclays Is Scary (2/20/09)

Hey Jim Read this....you need it...but by the way thanks to put Barclays down....I load up the stock since you barking at them...LOL

"We have committed to recommencing dividend payments during the second half of 2009. Thereafter, and as previously announced, dividend payments will be made on a quarterly basis. We will set out our dividend policyat the Annual General Meeting in April."

Better than BAC and JPM now?? Right....?? read more...


Barclays Bags Best Of Lehman, On The Cheap
Tina Wang, 09.16.08, 10:19 PM ET

Barclays has circled back to pick up the pieces of Lehman Brothers Holdings, agreeing to acquire business operations and real estate holdings from the failed investment bank for about $1.75 billion.

The British bank will buy Lehman's North American investment banking and capital markets operations, with a 10,000-strong staff, for the fire-sale price of $250 million, Barclays said in a statement Tuesday.

It will also pay close to current market value for Lehman's New York headquarters and its two data centers in New Jersey, estimated to be worth a total of $1.5 billion. Barclays President Robert Diamond called the proposed acquisition a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for his company.

Barclays valued the Lehman (nyse: LEH - news - people ) trading assets it plans to acquire at $72 billion and Lehman's trading liabilities that it will take on at $68 billion.

Barclays (nyse: BCS - news - people ) waited for Lehman's parent company to file for bankruptcy protection and then moved in on the securities unit while it was still operating and with its staff mostly intact, allowing it to dictate terms.

Barclays said that some shareholders were supportive of the proposed transaction and expressed interest in upping their holdings, which would inject at least $1 billion in additional equity to the firm. The company had withdrawn an earlier bid over the weekend because the federal government refused to provide a backstop for the deal the way it had for Bear Stearns.

Waiting until Lehman Chief Executive Dick Fuld had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was a shrewd move because it allowed Barclay's to take only the parts of the company it wanted, essentially the talented personnel, and leave behind the remaining holding company and its toxic balance sheet. However, there was still a rush to close the deal, because if Lehman employees began abandoning ship as the clock ticked, the firm's operations wouldn't be worth as much.

The risk to Barclays was that by waiting for the Lehman parent company to file for bankruptcy protection, it opened the door for another bidder to come in and set a deal for the entire firm. But the only serious competition seems to have been Bank of America, which decided it would rather own the less-troubled Merrill Lynch instead. (See "Shrewd Buy For BofA" )




Barclays buys Expobank for £373m

By Sean Farrell


Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Barclays has agreed to buy Russia's Expobank for £373m in its first international acquisition since losing out in the battle for ABN Amro.


The British bank is paying cash for 100 per cent of Expobank to expand in retail and commercial banking in Russia, where its Barclays Capital investment bank already does business. Expobank was founded in 1994 and has 32 branches in western Russia, including Moscow and St Petersburg.

Analysts said the price, at four times Expobank's net asset value, was hefty but that the acquisition was relatively small and gave Barclays a place in an increasingly important market. Russia is in the middle of a consumer boom driven by its 10th straight year of economic growth. The economy expanded by 8.1 per cent last year.

Barclays wants to increase its business in high-growth emerging markets. It lost out to Royal Bank of Scotland last year in the battle for ABN Amro, which would have given it a retail banking business in Russia as well as highly desirable licences in Asia.

Frits Seegers, chief executive of Barclays' global retail and commercial banking business, said: "Expobank is a well-run bank with a good track record of innovative distribution and represents a great opportunity for Barclays.

"Its existing relationships and infrastructure create the ideal platform for us to become one of the leading retail and commercial banks in Russia."

Barclays is buying the stake from Petropavlovsk Finance. The deal is expected to close in the summer and Barclays expects to generate economic profit and a return on equity significantly above the cost of equity by 2011.



Barclays completes acquisition of Bank Akita
3rd February 2009
By Staff Writer

UK-based Barclays has completed the acquisition of Bank Akita, which was announced initially in September 2008, following the approval of the Central Bank of Indonesia.


Barclays said that Akita will form part of Barclays global retail and commercial banking (GRCB) emerging markets business. Barclays intends to rebrand Akita as Barclays Bank Indonesia, at an appropriate date, subject to the necessary approvals.

Following the acquisition, and subject to regulatory approval, Samir Gupta has been nominated as the managing director of Barclays Bank Indonesia and will report to Ahmed Khan, CEO of Barclays GRCB emerging markets. Prior to this appointment, Mr Gupta held the position of retail director for Barclays GRCB emerging markets.

Mr Khan said: "The acquisition of Akita is an excellent fit with Barclays strategy of increasing its presence, over time, in emerging markets with good growth characteristics. Indonesia is a very attractive market, with the fourth largest population in the world, strong economic growth and a low penetration of banking products. It is an exciting opportunity, not just for Barclays, but for the Indonesian consumer who will have access to the global scale and skills of one of the world's leading universal banks."


Morgan Stanley bought Goldfish from Lloyds TSB for $1.7bn in 2006.

NOW Barclays bags Goldfish for £36m ($70m) WOW!!!

Barclays also bought Lehman's good assets for $1.75B

THIS IS BETTER THAN JAMIE DIMON DEAL...!!!LOL



Barclays bags Goldfish for £36m ($70m)

By Sean Farrell


Friday, 8 February 2008

Barclays HAS bought the Goldfish credit card business from Discover Financial Services of the US for a knock-down price of $70m (£36m).


Britain's biggest credit card lender will get 1.7 million accounts with about $4bn (£2.1bn) of customer borrowings in the cash deal.

Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclaycard, said yesterday: "Goldfish has similar credit characteristics to our existing UK business. The combination provides an attractive opportunity to deploy our expertise across a larger number of cards and customers."

Discover was spun off by Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, in June. Morgan Stanley bought Goldfish from Lloyds TSB for $1.7bn in 2006.

Goldfish has not been good for Discover. The UK business posted losses in 2006 and 2007 as bad debts mounted. The US company said it would take charges of $190m to $210m in the first quarter of this year. It wrote down$391m of goodwill for the business before tax in the fourth quarter.

Discover said the deal would free capital that it could use in its US business, and that it would get out of the UK after the deal closed by the end of May.

Barclays is understood to have bought the business in an opportunistic move. It did not say whether it would keep the Goldfish name or wrap the operation into its Barclaycard brand.