LONDON (ShareCast) - Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) has confirmed talks are underway with US firm BlackRock (NYSE: BLK
-
news) over the future over its fund management arm Barclays Global Investors (BGI (
BGII.PK -
news) ), which includes its iShares business.
Reports over the weekend suggested Barclays is poised to conclude a deal that would see BlackRock buy BGI for £8.1bn, with Barclays to take up to a 20% stake in the combined business.
In its statement, Barclays said since its announcement of the sale of its iShares business to CVC Capital Partners SICAV-FIS for $4.4bn in April, it had received other proposals for iShares and the broader BGI business.
"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.
Today, the FT reported that Bank of New York Mellon is also interested in BGI.