Barclays who raised £7.3 billion from Middle Eastern investors announced on Thursday that they have acquired Australia’s Macquarie banks Italian mortgage business.

Britain’s largest bank Barclays PLC has made no announcement on what they have paid for the Italian mortgage division of Macquarie.

This move has now increased the mortgage book of Barclays by almost 10 percent or 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion). Barclays was mortgage book was about 12 billion Euros before the deal took place.

Chief executive of Barclays retails and commercial banking arm, Frits Seeger’s said “Our existing Italian mortgage business has grown through the combination of a prudent lending policy and careful management of customer relationships. This acquisition augments that business.”

On the news Barclays shares tumbled 187p or 4 percent.

Source: AP.google