May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc, the U.K.'s third-biggest bank, had its stock rating lowered to ``reduce'' by Dresdner Kleinwort, which said the company may raise 3 billion pounds ($5.9 billion) in a share sale to shore up capital and write down a further 3 billion pounds.

``Given the current environment and the group's growth aspirations, we expect management to boost capital ratios,'' analysts led by Arturo de Frias in London wrote in a research note to clients today. It will probably also pay its first-half dividend in stock, De Frias said.

Barclays, along with U.K. peers including Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, faces slower growth amid higher funding costs triggered by the global credit crisis. The London-based bank will probably arrange a share placement with a sovereign wealth fund rather than sell stock to its own investors, and will probably announce a deal in its trading statement May 15, the analysts said.

``Barclays is probably the most attractive to a sovereign wealth fund given its global business lines and `East not West' expansion plans,'' De Frias said. Barclays sold stakes of 2.06 percent and 3.02 percent to Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte and China Development Bank last year to help fund its bid for ABN Amro Holding NV.

The bank added 2.4 percent to 476 pence in London trading, giving it a market value of 31.2 billion pounds. Barclays's stock has fallen 11 percent in the past six months, less than the 12 percent fall in the eight-member FTSE 350 Banks Index.

Alastair Smith, a spokesman for Barclays in London, declined to comment on possible writedowns or share sales.

Idzik Leaves

Chief Operating Officer Paul Idzik, who has helped Chief Executive Officer John Varley improve growth across the bank's consumer and commercial lending units, will leave Barclays after almost a decade, the bank said late yesterday. Idzik grew frustrated by his role as a peacemaker between Varley and President Bob Diamond, who oversees about 45 percent of pretax profit, the Financial Times reported.

``Barclays has put a lot of senior people on the board who probably feel they should be running banks and be in positions of authority,'' said Simon Maughan, a London-based analyst at MF Global Securities Ltd. ``They were gearing up for global expansion with their proposed bid for ABN Amro, now they have too many chiefs,'' he said.

Idzik is leaving because his task of improving cost controls and helping revamp the bank's divisions is ``substantially complete,'' Varley said in the statement. Diamond and Varley have ``an extraordinarily close and strong relationship at the heart of Barclays's progress,'' a spokesman said today. ``Any claim to the contrary is utter nonsense.''

Idzik won't be replaced as COO, according to Barclays's Smith. He joined Barclays Capital in 1999 as chief administrative officer and was previously a partner at Booz Allen & Hamilton.

More Writedowns

``There does seem to be a constant merry-go-round at Barclays,'' said Derek Chambers, an analyst at Standard & Poor's Equity Research Ltd. in London. ``It does indicate somewhat that there is a lack of stability.'' He rates the stock ``buy.''

Barclays has posted 2.3 billion pounds in writedowns and credit losses in the past year, a fraction of the $319 billion reported by the biggest banks. Maughan estimates Barclays will write down as much as 1.75 billion pounds more when it publishes its trading statement later this month and will probably pay its dividend in stock instead of cash.

The bank may need to raise 2.4 billion pounds, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Ltd. analysts led by James Hutson in London wrote in a note to investors yesterday. That amount comprises a share sale and a dividend payment in stock, they said.

The bank's long-term debt rating was lowered one step to AA by Fitch Ratings last week, which cited ``earnings and risk volatility'' at Barclays Capital, the securities arm.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Livesey in London blivesey@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 2, 2008 11:47 EDT