BlackRock interested in Barclays unit

8th Jun 2009 12:32

Barclays has confirmed it is in talks with US firm BlackRock regarding the sale of its fund management arm Barclays Global Investors (BGI).Britain's second-biggest bank, which agreed to sell its iShares business, part of BGI, to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in April for $4.4bn, said discussions are not yet concluded.Reports over the weekend suggested BlackRock will buy BGI for £8.1bn, with Barclays to take up to a 20% stake in the combined business.In a statement Monday, Barclays said it had received other proposals for iShares and the broader BGI business. Bank of New York Mellon is also thought to be interested."In assessing such proposals, Barclays has had discussions with a number of parties, including with BlackRock, about both iShares and BGI. The discussions are not yet concluded and there are a number of significant open issues which could affect the nature and terms of any transaction," the statement said. "There is no certainty that these discussions will result in Barclays concluding a different transaction than that announced on 9 April with CVC regarding iShares," it added.BlackRock boss Larry Fink is said to have been touring the Middle East in search of cash to fund the deal.Barclays said it will update the market once it's concluded the 'go-shop' process agreed with CVC by the end of next week.