Administration June 1, 2009

Vanguard Weighs in with $5B iShares Offer

June 1, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A U.K. newspaper is reporting that The Vanguard Group has submitted a $5-billion bid for the iShares unit of Barclays.
Reported by

The Telegraph story said William Blair & Co. of Chicago is advising Vanguard in the matter.

Even though there is a previous deal agreed on in April to sell iShares to CVC Capital for $4.4 billion, Barclays reserved the right to keep looking for another suitor until June 18 (see Barclays Still Entertaining Suitors for iShares ).

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CVC has the right to match any subsequent offer accepted by Barclays and will receive a break fee if Barclays decides not to sell iShares to it.

The story said Barclays is also entertaining offers for Barclays Global Investors, which includes iShares (see Barclays Reported Considering Broader BGI Deal ).Bloomberg reported inquiries for a broader deal from BlackRock Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon for a price analysts estimated at as much a $10 billion – more than double the $4.4 billion Barclays would be in line to get by selling iShares.

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