Barclays is considering purchasing a controlling stake in Expobank, of Russia, at a cost of about £200 million, according to reports.
The acquisition talks come as Barclays prepares to unveil its full-year results for 2007 on Tuesday.
Expobank is a small retail and commercial bank whose shareholders include the miner Peter Hambro.
Barclays is expected to reveal increased writedowns on its investments in US sub-prime mortgages and structured investment vehicles and on its leveraged loan operations when it reports next week.
The bank said in November that it had written down £1.7 billion of assets.
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Credit Suisse analysts said that further writedowns could come from the bank’s £10 billion book of commercial mortgage-backed securities and its £7.3 billion leveraged loan book.
The average consensus estimate supplied by the bank predicts a £6.9 billion pre-tax profit for the year to December 31.
Barclays declined to comment on Expobank.