There will be no fire sale of BlackRock shares by Merrill Lynch after all. CNBC reporter Charles Gasparino told viewers Wednesday that Merrill's sale of $4.5 billion of its Bloomberg stake to Bloomberg has caused John Thain to decide to hold onto the BlackRock shares, at least for now.

Thain has been reportedly seeking offers on other Merrill assets in order to avoid selling any of the wirehouse's 49 percent stake in BlackRock. The company is seeking to raise cash in the face of a likely multi-billion dollar loss in the second quarter (analysts have guessed that Merrill may write off up to $6 billion for the quarter).

Wednesday, Thain reportedly reached a deal with Bloomberg in which Bloomberg will pay Merrill $4.5 billion for the wirehouse's stake in the financial news service. Raising that cash means that their is less pressure for Thain to sell the BlackRock stake.

Meanwhile, Gasparino also told viewers that unidentified bond rating agencies had told Thain that they preferred seeing Merrill hold onto its BlackRock shares. Merrill also has deep ties to BlackRock, which includes its former Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) business. That legacy has left BlackRock as a manager of Merrill's pension assets, according to CNBC.

The Wall Street Journal points to other causes for Merrill's decision to hold onto its BlackRock stake. The paper cites sources familiar with the talks as pointing to accounting and tax issues as having helped spike the deal.

Also playing a role were the different motivations of the two firms, according to the paper. BlackRock is driven by a desire to keep Merrill close, a relationship it sees as bolstered by Merrill having its stock in its hands.  

Edited by: Sean Hanna, Editor in Chief


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