Investment News Barclays Could Sell BGI As Well As IShares 3403
Barclays could sell BGI as well as iShares
08 June 2009 / by Rachael Stiles
In April, Barclays agreed a deal to sell iShares, part of its wider BGI business, for $4.4billion to CVC Capital Partners, but the deal included a ‘go shop’ clause, which entitles Barclays to accept a better offer until before June 19.
Following reports and rumours over the weekend, Barclays has announced that it could sell its entire BGI business, and is considering a number of offers, including one from American investment firm BlackRock, which will reportedly bring in $13billion for Barclays.
The deal could be a merger, according to the Telegraph, which would leave Barclays with a stake in BlackRock, and could result in a $585million windfall for employees.
“Barclays has received other proposals for iShares and the broader BGI business,” the bank said in a statement.
But, it continued, “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. 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.”
If Barclays does accept another offer for the sale of iShares or BGI as a whole, which includes iShares, it will have to pay CVC £175million as part of the ‘go shop’ clause.
The banking giant will have to make a decision on the fate of iShares and BGI before this clause ends on June 19.
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