(Bloomberg) — BlackRock Inc . is further expanding into private markets investing, creating a new partnership to include assets alongside traditional ETFs and mutual funds in model portfolios offered to US retail affluent clients.
The firm will work with Chicago-based GeoWealth to offer private equity and debt funds in customized portfolios to financial advisers across the U.S., BlackRock said Wednesday in a statement. GeoWealth oversees approximately $28 billion in 180,000 accounts and approximately 200 registered investment advisors.
The move allows BlackRock, the world's largest money manager, to “enable broader access to private markets – one of today's most sought-after asset classes,” it said in the statement.
BlackRock sees the US property market as one of its biggest growth opportunities. It accounted for roughly $4.5 billion in revenue in 2023, about a quarter of the company's total.
The model portfolio business itself is one of the fastest-growing areas of asset management, and BlackRock expects it to double in assets to about $10 trillion over the next five years. There are about $125 billion in assets in BlackRock's managed model portfolios for U.S. clients, and custom portfolios have generated about $31 billion in new assets over the past four years, according to the company.
After dominating low-cost passive funds for the past decade, the company is looking to become a one-stop shop for clients by growing its capabilities in private assets. In late April, BlackRock's retail private debt fund had about 498 million dollars of wealth and hers retail private equity fund held about 231 million dollars.
BlackRock, with $10.5 trillion in assets under management at the end of March, is increasingly competing with private equity giants such as Blackstone Inc., KKR & Co. and Apollo Global Management Inc., all of which are trying to make deeper inroads into retail. the property market.