Administration June 8, 2009

BlackRock Confirms Discussions about Purchasing Barclays

June 8, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - BlackRock, Inc. confirmed that it has been engaged in discussions with Barclays Bank plc about BlackRock's potential purchase of Barclays Global Investors (BGI), including the iShares business.
Reported by

The company said in a news release that negotiations are ongoing and there is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed upon or, if agreed upon, completed.

In April, Barclays announced a deal to sell its iShares business to CVC Capital for $4.4 billion, but it reserved the right to keep entertaining suitors until June 18 (see Vanguard Weighs in with $5B iShares Offer ).

In May, Barclays said it had received “unsolicited interest” in BGI, as well as iShares, since the CVC deal was announced. Bloomberg reported inquiries for a broader deal from BlackRock and Bank of New York Mellon (see Barclays Reported Considering Broader BGI Deal ).

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