The private equity giant Blackstone has begun exploring a sale of Lombard International, one of the biggest UK-based wealth managers.
Sky News has learnt that Blackstone is working with advisers at Bank of America Merrill Lynch on a potential sale of Lombard following a series of unsolicited expressions of interest.
Lombard had more than €47bn in assets under administration at the end of June.
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.
That would represent a valuation consistent with Lombard's economic value under the Solvency-II framework, as well as additional value for its franchises in the US and Asia.
Lombard is run by Stuart Parkinson, who was appointed as chief executive earlier this year following a long stint running HSBC's private banking operations.
Blackstone declined to comment.
