CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm, is the preferred bidder for Barclays’ iShares trading platform, the UK bank has confirmed.
Earlier this month, it was reported that private equity firms Hellman & Friedman, Bain Capital and TPG were all interested in acquiring the iShares exchange traded funds unit.
Now Barclays has confirmed that CVC is the preferred bidder and that if negotiations reach a satisfactory conclusion, the firm will acquire the business without the attributable securities lending business.
The value of iShares is reported to be around $4.37 billion, more than 33% of Barclays’ market capitalisation.
Exchange traded funds are investment vehicles that are traded on stock exchanges, much like stocks and offer low costs, tax efficiency, and stock-like features.
D.C.