Bank of America Corp. and Blackstone Group LP are in advanced talks over private-equity real-estate assets the bank is trying to shed, according to people familiar with the matter.
The talks focus on certain real-estate assets from Bank of America previously owned by Merrill Lynch, the people said. A definitive deal hasn’t been signed yet, they said.
The exact value of the deal couldn’t be learned. The news was reported earlier by the Financial Times, which said the deal could be for as much as $1 billion.
Bank of America has for the past year been selling what it calls noncore assets as it looks to both raise capital to meet new global standards and sharpen its focus on its core banking business. The bank has already sold other private-equity units and had identified the operations as likely to continue to be cut.
Blackstone President Tony James said during a second-quarter earnings conference call in July that the money manager is seeing attractive opportunities in commercial real estate, and that it owns some «trophy assets» in prime locations.
Source: online.wsj.com