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Barclays PLC (BCS) shareholders Thursday agreed to the $13 billion sale of the bank's Barclays Global Investors unit to BlackRock Inc. (BLK), making BlackRock the world's biggest money manager and giving several Barclays executives multi-million dollar payoffs.

At a shareholder meeting in London, 99.9% of shareholders voting agreed to the cash and shares transaction, which had been announced in June after a bidding war for BGI and its iShares business.

On completion of the deal by the end of the year, Barclays will get GBP4.1 billion in cash and will keep a 19.9% stake in BGI.

BGI is one of the world's largest money managers, with $1.44 trillion invested for clients, much of it in so-called "passive" funds that track market indexes.

Combined with BlackRock's $1.3 trillion under management, the new group - called BlackRock Global Investors - will be about double the size of its nearest competitors, State Street Global and Fidelity Investments.

The sale means a big payday for Barclays executives who cashed in shares they held in BGI under a management incentive plan. Barclays President Bob Diamond stands to get $36 million, and he will also take a seat on BlackRock's board along with Barclays Chief Executive John Varley.

Barclays put iShares - part of BGI - up for sale earlier this year to boost its capital position amid the financial crisis. It received a $4.4 billion offer from European private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners, but BlackRock made a better offer for the whole BGI business during a go-sho period agreed with CVC that let Barclays seek other bids.

iShares is the world's largest provider of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, that trade on exchanges like regular stocks to give investors easy and inexpensive access to a range of markets and types of assets.

Barclays reported Monday that pretax profits at BGI rose 4% in the first half of 2009, to GBP276 million from GBP265 million. Profits would have been higher but were hit by a $175 million breakfee paid to CVC.

Standard & Poor's Corp. in June said the BGI sale was "marginally positive" for Barclays' credit profile, as the addition of GBP4.1 billion cash to its tier 1 ratio would outweigh lower future earnings and reduced diversification in its operations.

Barclays reported a 7.1% tier 1 ratio at June 20, 2009, which will rise to 8.8% after the BGI transaction completes.

Company Web site: http://www.barclays.com

-By Margot Patrick, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9451; margot.patrick@dowjones.com