Barclays sells indices business to Bloomberg for £520m

Barclays has agreed to sell its benchmark indices business, Barclays Risk Analytics and Index Solutions (BRAIS) to Bloomberg LP for around £520m.

Barclays Risk Analytics and Index Solutions (BRAIS) incorporates the bank’s benchmark indices, including the Barclays Aggregate family of indices.

The deal includes the sale of relevant intellectual property in relation to the POINT portfolio analytics tool, the bank said.

Barclays has agreed to continue to operate POINT for 18 months after completion of the transaction in order to help clients transition to other providers, including Bloomberg's PORT product.

The group said it will retain its quantitative investment strategy index business, with calculation and maintenance of its strategy indices outsourced to Bloomberg.

Barclays said it expects to recognise a pre-tax gain on completion of around £480m, with a pro-forma increase of around 10 basis points on the 30 September 2015 CET1 ratio, which is a measure of the bank’s capital strength.

Given the nature of the BRAIS business, it will have a negligible impact on risk-weighted assets, the bank said.

Chief executive officer Jes Staley said: "We are pleased to partner closely with Bloomberg upon completion of the transaction, including maintaining a co-branding arrangement on the benchmark indices for an initial term of five years.

"This transaction is further evidence of the good work we are doing in managing down our non-core assets so that shareholders can feel the full benefit of ownership of Barclays' well-performing core businesses."

The deal is subject is subject to various conditions including anti-trust approval and is expected to complete by mid-2016.

At 1216 GMT, Barclays shares were up 0.3% to 215.50p.