Investor Relations 101

[Tina]

Issue Date: IR Alert - July 20, 2009

Barclays’ Jenkins Announces Plans to Establish His Own Fund Investment-Advisory Firm
(NY Times) Roger Jenkins, the Barclays executive who helped the bank win a vital capital injection from Middle Eastern investors last year, plans to set up his own firm advising sovereign wealth funds on investments. Jenkins, a Barclays veteran who is believed to be one of London’s highest-paid bankers, is negotiating his departure terms after 25 years with the bank, said a person with direct knowledge of the talks who declined to be identified because no agreement has yet been reached, the Times reports.

Jenkins, who chairs the investment banking business in the Middle East but is based in London, is eager to move to Los Angeles to spend more time with his family, this person said. Jenkins first expressed interest in setting up his own firm a year ago, but senior Barclays executives convinced him to stay and help Barclays through the worst of the credit crisis. In October, Jenkins played a crucial role in Barclays $8.6 billion deal with Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which helped the bank avoid surrendering some control to the British government, reports Times correspondent Julia Werdigier.

Earlier this year, he worked on the sale of iShares, the business that was eventually acquired by BlackRock as part of its purchase of Barclays Global Investors.

It should not come as a surprise that Jenkins plans to set up his new venture close to his family. It was his wife, Sanela Diana Jenkins, who introduced him in 2006 to Sheik Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar and director of its sovereign wealth fund. Jenkins is a prominent socialite whose friends include Mick Jagger and Paris Hilton.

Jenkins, who does not sit on Barclays’ management board, joined Barclays as a graduate trainee and later built the bank’s successful but controversial structured capital markets business, which also has a tax arbitrage operation. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Mr. Jenkins earned 40 million pounds ($65 million) last year and has a personal wealth of 120 million pounds.

In a sign that Barclays already prepared for Jenkins’ departure, the bank appointed John Vitalo as chief executive of investment banking and investment management for the Middle East in May.