Macquarie Group has been identified as a possible buyer of Dexia Asset Management, the investment division of the European bank Dexia, which is being restructured under public ownership.Dexia has more than €80 billion in assets under management and operates in two dozen countries. Two other suitors, named in a Bloomberg report this week, are New York Life Insurance Co and a Chinese consortium comprising Hony Capital and GCS Capital (HK) Co.The Bloomberg report speculated that Dexia might sell for at least US$500 million.Macquarie's chief executive, Nicholas Moore, was asked about Dexia at the media briefing held before the company's annual general meeting yesterday. He said that he "was not ruling out acquisitions".Dexia Asset Management owns 72 per cent of Ausbil Dexia, an Australian equity manager with A$11 billion of funds under management. The other equity-holders are management and staff.For the year to December 2011, Ausbil Dexia reported income of $66.3 million and a net profit of $33.8 million. Macquarie does not have a strong presence as an equity manager in the Australian managed funds industry. Ausbil Dexia would fit into Macquarie Financial Services, which has $118 billion in funds under management and under administration in its managed funds and administration platforms.