This morning they did. Here's Reuters:
Barclays Plc investors have voted in favour of the British bank's controversial 7 billion pound ($10.44 billion) fundraising, its chairman Marcus Agius said on Monday.
Addressing shareholders at a meeting in London called to vote on the plan, Agius said a count of proxy votes had indicated that the capital-raising would be passed. A final tally of votes will be released later, he said.
Barclays had been expected to get the 75 percent approval it needed for the plan to go ahead. However, there is likely to be a high number of abstentions in protest, analysts and fund managers have said.
Investors have been angered that they have not been given first refusal on new capital -- known as pre-emption rights and that Qatar and Abu Dhabi investors are getting more attractive terms than existing shareholders.
Top five investor Legal & General last week said it would vote in favour even though it does not like the structure of the controversial deal, as rejection of the deal would lead to a material deterioration in shareholder value.
Is this just the next round of corporate fraud? Fat cats milking the companies dry while ordinary investors are completely unable to secure any reasonable profits for their capital.
Why aren't they raising the money in ordinary bond markets, or just selling more ordinary stock?