Private equity groups Hellman & Friedman, Bain Capital and TPG have shown interest in buying the iShares unit from British bank Barclays, sources familiar with the situation said. Talks with a consortium around Hellman & Friedman were moving "quickly and smoothly", one of the sources said.
It was not immediately clear who else was in the consortium. Barclays, which said on Monday it may sell the iShares exchange-traded funds provider, declined to comment. Another source familiar with the situation that said Bain Capital was interested in iShares, while a third source said that TPG was also looking at the unit.
The Wall Street journal reported on Friday that Barclays was offering to finance the purchase of the unit, lending up to 80 percent of the units price. Barclays Capital, the investment bank, is one of the biggest providers of funding for buyouts, but like all banks it has pulled back on providing buyout loans during the crisis.