Press Trust of India / London May 15, 2009, 18:07 IST
British banking entity Barclays, which has refused to take funds from the government, is in discussions to sell its asset management arm Barclays Global Investors for nearly $10 billion.
"Barclays is in talks about selling asset management arm Barclays Global Investors for about $10 billion, with potential bidders including US money manager BlackRock," the Financial Times has reported quoting people familiar with the matter.
The report published online said that talks on the potential sale of BGI are the outcome of an initial auction for iShares — the fast-growing exchange-traded funds unit of BGI — which Barclays agreed to sell to private equity group CVC Capital Partners for about $4.2 billion.
"Under a 'go-shop' provision of that sale, Barclays can seek alternative bidders for iShares until June 18," the daily noted. Barclays has to pay $175 million break-up fee to CVC if it selects an alternative bid.
"BC Partners and Hellman & Friedman, the private equity groups, are both considering a counter-bid for iShares," it added.
According to the daily, BGI operates in 15 countries and manages 1,047 billion pounds of assets.
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