BlackRock Could Be Buyer of Toxic Assets

BlackRock(BLK) preliminarily has been granted a second-round interview with the Treasury Department to become one of a few money managers to buy toxic assets from U.S. banks, using taxpayer money, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Laurence Fink, the chairman of BlackRock, aims to raise as much as $7 billion to invest through the program, which could yield his firm millions of dollars in fees, the Journal adds.

A Treasury spokesman said it's in negotiations to prequalify several fund managers, the newspaper reports.

BlackRock was previously selected to manage mortgage assets once owned by Bear Stearns and American International Group(AIG), and separately was tapped to analyze hard-to-price assets of Freddie Mac (FRE) and Morgan Stanley(MS), the Journal notes.

BlackRock, which manages $1.28 trillion in assets, also is reportedly one of the suitors for the Global Investors business of Barclays(BCS).

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