BlackRock hits $11.5trn of assets as private markets grow

As investors channeled $97bn into exchange-traded funds and $63bn into fixed-income products during the company’s third quarter.

BlackRock Inc. pulled in $160 billion of client cash to its long-term investment funds last quarter, pushing the world’s largest money manager to a record $11.5 trillion of assets as it seeks to become a one-stop shop for stocks, bonds and, increasingly, private assets.

Investors added $97 billion to exchange-traded funds and $63 billion to fixed-income overall in the third quarter, New York-based BlackRock said Friday in a statement, a total that topped the $100 billion average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. BlackRock has pulled in $360 billion of total net inflows so far this year, surpassing the full-year net flows of 2022 and 2023.

“We are effectively leveraging our technology, scale, and global footprint to deliver profitable growth,” Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said in the statement.

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After the third quarter ended, the firm completed its $12.5 billion acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners on Oct. 1, in a deal adding $116 billion of private market assets.

The company also had $61 billion in net flows to cash-management and money-market funds in the period. Total net flows were $221 billion.

BlackRock is positioning itself as a single place for global clients to invest across public and private markets. It benefited this year from the surge in stocks and cash beginning to flow into fixed-income and private funds. The S&P 500 Index rose about 5.5% in the third quarter, and investors are betting the Federal Reserve won’t need to cut rates aggressively in the near-term to avoid a recession.

BlackRock is in the process of closing a £2.55 billion ($3.3 billion) acquisition of private-markets data firm Preqin.

The firm is also signaling that it wants to catch up in the fast-growing market for private credit, recently shaking up the senior executive team of its global private debt business and establishing a direct-lending group. BlackRock is exploring a purchase of HPS Investment Partners that could value the private credit firm in excess of $10 billion, Bloomberg reported this week.

BlackRock’s adjusted net income per share rose 5% from a year ago to $11.46 per share. Revenue rose 15% to $5.2 billion from a year ago.

Shares of BlackRock have risen about 18% this year as of market close Thursday, trailing the 21% advance of the S&P 500 Index.

© 2024 Bloomberg

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