Barclays-Absa An absalute pain

Cross-border banking consolidation is often discussed but rarely practised. And looking at Barclays’ acquisition of Absa, South Africa’s leading retail bank, it’s not hard to see why. The UK lender has invested months of effort thrashing out an agreement with Absa’s shareholders. And it can hardly be said to have got a bargain for all its toil. Barclays is offering £2.9bn for a 60% stake. That values the entire bank at R55bn (£4.8bn), equivalent to 9.5 times adjusted forward earnings. The valuat...