A large Chinese conglomerate with ambitions to operate in the US market is in discussions to buy Russell Investments.

China's CITIC Group Corporation is negotiating to acquire Russell Investments from London Stock Exchange Group in what is expected to be a deal worth about $1.8 billion deal, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources.

If the deal goes through it will give the mainland China group an entry into the US market. CITIC already has a financial services business and owns CITIC Asset Management.

Such an acquisition would also quickly follow moves, as reported here last week, by China’s Fosun Group to buy a venerable German private banking firm, Hauck & Aufhaeuser Privatbankiers – signs of how Chinese groups are seeking to flex their international financial muscle.

The news service said talks involving CITIC and Russell are ongoing and the deal could still fall through. The sources said it was unclear whether recent financial market turmoil in China – its A-shares market has fallen around a third since 12 June – would derail a deal.

LSE declined to comment while CITIC did not respond to a request for comment, the news service said. It added that Towers Watson & Co and China's Shanda Group, an investment holding group that started out as an online game company, have also bid for Russell.

Russell has around $272 billion of assets under management.