According to unnamed sources, the banking group Barclays is negotiating with the US money manager BlackRock about a prospective sales deal of its Barclays Global Investors (BGI) unit. Earlier reports mentioned Barclays being close to agreeing on a $12-billion sale of BGI to the Larry Fink-led BlackRock.

The under-negotiation deal, which sources say is likely to be announced on Wednesday, is structurally similar to Barclays proposed sale of iShares, might result in Barclays taking a stake of up to 20 percent in the enlarged US asset manager, with the Barclays President and the BGI head, Bob Diamond, expected to join the BlackRock board.

Though Barclays has confirmed having received proposals for BGI and iShares from a number of potential buyers - BlackRock inclusive - it said: "The discussions are not yet concluded and there are a number of significant open issues which could affect the nature and terms of any transaction."

Meanwhile, as per the media reports, for the deal that looks imminent, BlackRock would likely receive funds from Middle East investors, who possibly also include a few shareholders of Barclays.

Furthermore, going by the UK's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, the Qatar Investment Authority and the Abu Dhabi government's investment arm Adia are also in talks together with Kuwait's KIO for a $3 billion capital injection in BlackRock for a 12 percent stake.