A Barclays spokesman declined to comment. Representatives for MSCI, Markit, Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Representatives from FTSE, Standard & Poor's and Bloomberg declined to comment. The index business Barclays intends to sell includes a basket of over 98 major indexes, according to its website. The U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which Barclays bought as part of the Lehman Brothers acquisition during the financial crisis, is among the platform's best-known offerings. The index business, known as a market leader, would attract a wide range of buyers such as equity indexes, and investment houses with distribution platforms, people familiar with the matter have said. But other index providers are also looking to ramp up their offerings. FTSE, which is owned by the London Stock Exchange Group Plc and is one of the dominant index providers in Europe, has said it wants to increase its U.S. presence substantially.