Barclays accepts BlackRock offer to buy BGI

Jun 17, 2009

With CVC Capital Partners out of the picture, Barclays' board sanctions the deal and now awaits shareholder approval.

BlackRock has received written notice from British bank Barclays PLC that its board of directors has accepted the New York-listed fund house's offer to acquire its Barclays Global Investors (BGI) unit. Barclays will recommend the transaction to Barclays' shareholders for approval at a special meeting to be held in early August 2009.

Barclays' acceptance of BlackRock's offer came after private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners Group didn't match BlackRock's offer for BGI's exchange-traded funds business, iShares. Barclays previously entered into an agreement to sell BGI's iShares business to CVC, but the deal included a "go-shop" arrangement that enabled Barclays to solicit other offers. Since Barclays didn't receive a matching offer from CVC within five business days of BlackRock's offer, the deal with BlackRock pushed through.

See AsianInvestor's previous stories:

In Japan, BNY Mellon weighs options without BGI

BlackRock/BGI deal could reshape industry in Japan

BlackRock to buy Barclays Global Investors for $13.5 billion