3i Group Share News (III)

Footsie has opened broadly unchanged on a quiet day on the company news front going into the weekend.Barclays has sold its fund management arm, Barclays Global Investors, to US asset manager BlackRock for £8.1bn ($13.5bn). BlackRock will pay $6.6bn in cash and the rest in shares for the unit which includes the iShares business, which Barclays had previously agreed to sell to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in April for $4.4bn.Shareholders at private equity group 3i have taken up 96.5% of the shares offered to them as part of the company's £700m rights issue.Indian refiner and miner Vedanta is to raise $1bn through an issue of convertible bonds, though major shareholder Volcan has declined to take part in the issue. Vedanta added priority will be given to its other existing shareholders. Regal Petroleum is raising about $100m (£60.4m) via a placing with new and existing institutional shareholders to fund development of its gas and condensate fields in Ukraine. Cape, which provides support services to the energy and natural resources sectors, has won a clutch of contracts in Qatar worth $37m in aggregate. South African metal recycler SA Metals has recommended its shareholders approve a takeover offer from platinum producer Sylvania Resources. Acquisitions and strong organic growth were responsible for record results at AEC Education in 2008, the Asia focused teaching group said. Profit before tax was up to £794,473 from £298,155 in 2007 on revenue up 123% to £6.2m.