Bank of America Corp. is considering reducing its equity stake in asset management firm BlackRock Inc., according to insider sources quoted by Bloomberg. Bank of America has recently been reducing its noncore assets following its merger with Merrill Lynch & Co.
It acquired a stake in BlackRock because of the Merrill acquisition—Merrill had purchased close to a 50 percent stake in the asset manager in 2006, but recent exchange of shares has reduced Bank of America’s holdings to around 35 percent. BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with $3.2 trillion of assets under management.
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