Sunday bid deadline for Barclays' iShares -sources

By Simon Meads

LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Private equity consortiums pursuing Barclays' (BARC.L) iShares investment unit have until Sunday to submit binding bids, sources familiar with the situation said.

A consortium including San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman and London head-quartered Apax Partners plans to submit a bid by Sunday, of around $5 billion, one of the sources said.

"An announcement could come as soon as Monday," one banker said, requesting anonymity.

Both Hellman & Friedman and Apax declined to comment.

The Hellman & Friedman-led consortium entered into talks for iShares before other parties, the sources said, and is seen as a front runner by others, despite a recent widening of interest in the company.

Analysts and media reports have variously put the value of iShares -- the index-tracking investment arm of Barclays Global Investors, the San Francisco-based fund management arm -- at anywhere between 3 billion and 5 billion pounds ($4.3-7.2 billion).

Barclays' market capitalisation is roughly $20 billion.

A deal could be concluded next week, before the Tuesday deadline to join the British government-backed scheme designed to protect bank assets against potential future losses.

iShares declined to comment.

Barclays said on Friday it does not need to raise any fresh capital after Britain's Financial Services Authority subjected the bank's finances to "a detailed stress test". [ID:nLR449530]

Barclays has resisted going to the government for funding, with its decision whether or not to join the asset protection scheme seen running parallel the sale of iShares.

Asset manager Vanguard and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) are also pursuing iShares, according to media reports.

Colony Capital has teamed up with Bain, but because of the pressure to sew up a deal quickly, the U.S. firm may bid alone, one of the sources said.

CVC Capital has also expressed interest in iShares and is expected to bid, another of the sources said.

All five firms declined to comment.

U.S. buyout firm TPG [TPG.UL] had looked at the asset management division but has dropped out of the race, another source said. (Additional reporting by Victoria Howley; Editing by Greg Mahlich) ($1=.6984 pounds)