A deal would trigger the takeover of one of the country’s best known investment platforms, which has 1.8 million customers and £150bn of assets, at a time when faith in the London stock market is declining.
The company was founded 40 years ago in Bristol by entrepreneurs Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown during the post-Thatcher boom in retail share trading.
Mr Lansdown, the majority owner of football team Bristol City FC, and Mr Hargreaves remain significant shareholders and are likely to be pivotal figures in any possible deal.
Hargreaves employs over 2,000 people at its headquarters in Bristol.
The company was a darling of the stock market for many years but the collapse of Neil Woodford’s fund management empire, which Hargreaves had promoted, and the rise of rival AJ Bell took the shine off its stock.
It was recently relegated from the FTSE 100, although a revival in the share price has put it on the cusp of rejoining the index.
Adia invests the vast financial resources of the Gulf state into overseas investments.
CVC is best known as the owner of Six Nations rugby and previously owned a stake in Formula 1. It recently debuted on the Amsterdam stock market.
CVC and Adia are also both co-investors in UK insurer Domestic & General.
Nordic Capital owns a business called Nordnet, which is a Nordic version of Hargreaves Lansdown.
Fenchurch Advisers is offering defence advice to Hargreaves while Goldman Sachs is working with the consortium on the bid.
Goldman banker Mark Sorrell, son of former WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, is leading the team.
It marks a busy time for UK M&A at Goldman given the company is also working on the bid situations for Anglo American and Royal Mail’s owner.