Asset manager BlackRock Inc said second-quarter profit fell from a year earlier as assets under management declined, but results rebounded from the first quarter as markets recovered.

The BlackRock business model is clearly working, Chief Executive Laurence Fink told analysts on a conference call Tuesday.

As clients worldwide began to accept that the global economies weren't falling into the abyss, fears dissipated and questions about asset-allocation began, Fink said.

BlackRock, which will become the world's largest asset manager when it completes the $13.5 billion acquisition of Barclays' money management division, reported net income of $218 million, or $1.59 per share, for the second quarter, down from $274 million, or $2.00 per share, a year earlier.

Adjusted for compensation contributions from BlackRock's partial owners, PNC Financial Services Group

and Bank of America Corp , earnings were $1.75 per share. On that basis, analysts on average had expected $1.56, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue was $1.03 billion, down from $1.39 billion a year earlier but up from $987 million in the first quarter. The changes tracked assets under management, the company said.

Assets under management were $1.373 trillion as of June 30, down from $1.427 trillion a year earlier but up from $1.283 trillion at the end of March.

The company reported net asset inflows of $15.2 billion in the second quarter -- $8.3 billion from U.S. clients and $6.9 billion from international investors.

Fink said clients are looking to move money out of cash and back into long-term positions. I'm a believer that the markets are stabilizing and we're seeing that by evidence from clients worldwide, he said.

BlackRock said it estimates the cost of integrating the Barclays unit at $300 million to $350 million.

Fink repeated a previous statement that the company was not interested in acquisitions. He added, I'm not going to confirm or deny anything that's been reported.

Pensions & Investments newspaper reported last week that Blackrock has been in talks to buy part of Bank of America Corp's Columbia Management unit.

BlackRock is among nine asset managers chosen by the U.S. government to manage troubled assets from sources such as American International Group Inc . The company says it plans to raise up to $5 billion to buy assets under the plan.

BlackRock shares were down $4.65, or 2.5 percent, to $180.17 in late-morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have risen more than 32 percent in the past three months, outperforming rivals including Legg Mason Inc Inc and Franklin Resources Inc . Investors regard BlackRock's big institutional business as solid amid the economic slowdown.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; editing by John Wallace)