The private equity giant Blackstone has begun exploring a sale of Lombard International, one of the biggest UK-based wealth managers.
.City sources cautioned on Thursday that a deal was far from certain to materialise. A number of insurance companies and other financial services groups are understood to have made approaches to Blackstone, triggering the appointment of bankers.Blackstone bought Lombard in 2014 from Friends Provident for about €400m, the listed insurance group which was itself eventually sold to Aviva.
The company's likely price in any deal was unclear on Thursday, although one analyst suggested that it was likely to be in excess of €700m.
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