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British bank Barclays announced this morning it has sold 19 per cent of the stock offered in an open offer to qualifying investors.

The response has been muted, as shares in the company have been trading well below the 282 pence a share offered price for much of this week.

Stock in the bank closed at 267.75 pence last night, but has risen 8.9 per cent to 290.5 pence a share in early trading this morning.

Barclays confirmed the rest of the offer would be taken up by "anchor" investors, as previously agreed.

These are thought to include the Qatar Investment Authority, Challenger, China Development Bank, Temasek and certain leading institutional shareholders with whom the shares had been conditionally placed.

"I am pleased to welcome new shareholders to our register as a result of our capital raising," said Barclays chief executive John Barley.

"We look forward to building on our relationships with our new shareholders, Qatar Investment Authority and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and we appreciate the support of existing owners of our shares including China Development Bank, Temasek, and other institutional holders."

The share offer was initially announced on June 25th; with Barclays in need of refreshing its balance sheet follow the impact of the credit crunch.

The shares were placed on the market on July 17th, with investors given until 11:00 BST yesterday to make a purchase.

In response investors took 267.1 million of the new shares, leaving the remaining 1.14 billion to foreign investors.

Barclays is the third biggest bank in the UK, valuing the bank at around £19 billion at the close of trading yesterday.