BlackRock May Pay $13B for Barclays Unit

BlackRock (BLK Quote) could announce Wednesday it is buying the fund business of Barclays(BCS Quote) for $12 billion to $13 billion in cash and stock, a report says.

The acquisition would be BlackRock's largest acquisition and the largest in the asset-management industry, Bloomberg reports. BlackRock took over Merrill Lynch's asset-management business for $8.5 billion in 2006.

BlackRock would pay half the purchase price in cash and the rest in stock, leaving U.K. bank Barclays with a 20% stake in the combined company, Bloomberg reports, citing a person familiar with the matter. BlackRock is seeking to raise as much as $3 billion from sovereign wealth funds in Kuwait and Qatar, Bloomberg notes. ...