BlackRock Agress to Acquite Barclays Global Investors according to a company press release. It says, "BlackRock, Inc. announced it has executed a purchase agreement to acquire Barclays Global Investors, including its market-leading ETF platform, iShares, from Barclays PLC. The combination of BlackRock and BGI would bring together market leaders in active and index strategies to create the preeminent asset management firm operating under the name BlackRock Global Investors. The transaction would create an independent and fully integrated asset management firm with combined assets under management of over $2.7 trillion." `BlackRock currently ranks 4th in money fund management with $246 billion while Barclays ranks 27th with $13.6 billion, according to our Money Fund Intelligence XLS. In other news, ICI's weekly money fund asset totals fell by $16.33 billion to $3.747 trillion in the week ended June 10. The release says, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $16.43 billion to $1.242 trillion.... Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $100 million to $2.505 trillion." Finally, the no-action letter has been posted for Citi's new Window Variable Rate Demand Bonds.
