Saad on sale - again

This time the troubled Saudi investment group had sold 30m shares in 3i Infrastructure fund at 85p each.

Or has it?

Like Tuesday’s disposal of 16m shares in Berkeley Group, the sale has again been handled by Citigroup. The word in the market is that the Berkeley and 3i Infrastructure stakes had been pledged as collateral for loans, or held on margin, and the US bank is now liquidating these positions.

There’s still no clarity on whether Saad’s 2 per cent holding in HSBC has been pledged as collateral, or for that matter the status of the remaining holding of 17m shares in Berkeley shares.