(Bloomberg) — BlackRock Inc . attracted a record $221 billion in total client money last quarter, pushing the world's largest money manager to an all-time high of $11.5 trillion in 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 in a statement on Friday. BlackRock has attracted $360 billion in total net inflows so far this year, surpassing the full-year net inflows of 2022 and 2023.
BlackRock “sets a high bar that we expect few peers to beat,” TD Cowen analysts wrote in a note after the earnings release.
BlackRock shares rose 3.6% to $990 at 10:29 a.m. in New York.
The firm attracted $5.5 billion of total net inflows to alternatives, compared with outflows of $4.2 billion a year earlier. It reported $170 billion in illiquid alternative assets.
This is set to grow. After the end of the third quarter, the firm ENDED its $12.5 billion acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners, in a deal that adds $116 billion in private market assets.
BlackRock's long-term investment funds received net inflows of $160 billion in the period, a total that beat the $100 billion average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.
The company also had $61 billion of net inflows into money management and money market funds in the period. Operating income rose 26% from a year ago to $2.1 billion.
The firm added $2.4 trillion to its total assets over the past 12 months.
BlackRock is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for global clients to invest in public and private markets. It benefited this year from rising stocks and money flowing into fixed income and private equity. The S&P 500 rose about 5.5% in the third quarter, and investors are betting that 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 it wants to tap into the fast-growing market for private loans, recently shaking up the senior executive team of its global private debt business and creating a direct lending group. BlackRock is exploring a buyout of HPS Investment Partners that could value the private equity firm at more than $10 billion, Bloomberg reported this week.
BlackRock's adjusted net income per share rose 5% from a year earlier to $11.46 per share, beating analysts' expectations of $10.40 per share. Revenue rose 15% to $5.2 billion from a year ago, which the firm said was driven by higher performance fees, organic base fee growth and positive market impact.
BlackRock shares are up about 18% this year as of Thursday's market close, trailing the S&P 500 Index's 21% advance.