Transforms BlackRock’s private markets
capabilities by delivering integrated investments, technology, and
data for the whole portfolio
Strategic expansion of Aladdin tech business
into fast-growing private markets data segment, unlocking
additional $8 billion total addressable market
Preqin grows BlackRock’s client base across
GPs, LPs and service providers, bringing 4,000+ relationships and
~$240 million of highly recurring 2024E revenue
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) has agreed to acquire Preqin, a
leading independent provider of private markets data for £2.55
billion or approximately $3.2 billion in cash. Bringing together
Preqin’s data and research tools with Aladdin’s complementary
workflow capabilities in a unified platform will create a
preeminent private markets technology and data provider. The
acquisition adds a highly complementary data business to
BlackRock’s investment technology, marking a strategic expansion
into the fast-growing private markets data segment.
Private markets are the fastest growing segment of asset
management, with alternative assets expected to reach nearly $40
trillion by the end of the decade. As institutional and wealth
investors increase allocations to alternatives, BlackRock has built
a leading private markets franchise to meet this client demand.
There is an even greater need for standardized data, benchmarks,
and analytics that enable investors to better incorporate private
asset classes into portfolios and provide fund managers with better
data and tools to deliver outcomes for clients. Private markets
data is estimated to be an $8 billion total addressable market and
growing 12% per year, reaching $18 billion by 2030.
Preqin empowers investors to make better decisions by providing
data and insights that increase transparency and access across the
global alternatives market. With a 20-year history, Preqin is a
leading independent data solutions provider in private markets with
global coverage of 190,000 funds, 60,000 fund managers and 30,000
private markets investors, reaching more than 200,000 users,
including asset managers, insurers, pensions, wealth managers,
banks, and other service providers. In 2024, Preqin is expected to
generate ~$240 million of highly recurring revenue and has grown
approximately 20% per year in the last three years.
Through the Aladdin platform, BlackRock provides technology
solutions to over 1,000 clients. The combination of Preqin with
eFront, Aladdin’s private markets solution, brings together the
data, research, and investment process for fund managers and
investors across fundraising, deal sourcing, portfolio management,
accounting, and performance. Preqin will also continue to be
offered as a standalone solution.
“BlackRock’s vision has always been to bring together
investments, technology, and data to offer solutions that meet our
clients’ needs across their whole portfolio. As clients
increasingly evolve their focus from choosing products to
constructing portfolios, this shift requires technology, data, and
analytics that create a ‘common language’ for investing across both
public and private markets. We see data powering the industry
across technology, capital formation, investing, and risk
management,” said Rob Goldstein, BlackRock Chief Operating Officer.
“Every acquisition has been an opportunity to strengthen our
capabilities for clients—and in fact, we have been a client of
Preqin for many years, and we look forward to welcoming the
talented Preqin team to BlackRock.”
“Together with Preqin, we can make private markets investing
easier and more accessible while building a better-connected
platform for investors and fund managers. This presents a
substantial opportunity for Aladdin to bridge the transparency gap
between public and private markets through data and analytics,”
said Sudhir Nair, Global Head of Aladdin.
“BlackRock is known for excellence in both investment management
and financial technology, and together we can accelerate our
efforts to deliver better private markets data and analytics to all
of our clients at scale.” said Mark O’Hare, Founder of Preqin. “I
look forward to joining BlackRock and continuing to play a role in
the continued growth and success of Preqin and our customers.”
Preqin founder Mark O’Hare will join BlackRock as a Vice Chair
after the close of the transaction.
“Private markets continue to evolve and so is Preqin. I am
incredibly excited about the opportunities this next phase of
growth, together with BlackRock, promises our customers and our
employees,” said Christoph Knaack, CEO of Preqin.
Terms of the Transaction
Under the terms of the transaction, BlackRock will acquire 100%
of the business and assets of Preqin for total consideration of
£2.55 billion or approximately $3.2 billion in cash.
The transaction is expected to close before year-end 2024,
subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing
conditions.
Barclays served as lead financial advisor to BlackRock, with
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom acting as legal counsel.
Goldman Sachs International served as the sole financial advisor,
and Macfarlanes acted as legal counsel, to Preqin.
Teleconference and Webcast Details
BlackRock will hold an investor call on July 1, 2024 at 8:30
a.m. ET to discuss the transaction.
Members of the public who are interested in participating in the
teleconference should dial, from the United States, (313) 209-4906,
or from outside the United States, (877) 502-9276, shortly before
8:30 a.m. ET and reference the BlackRock Conference Call (ID Number
8700330). A live, listen-only webcast will also be available via
the investor relations section of www.blackrock.com.
The webcast will be available for replay by 11:30 a.m. ET on
Monday, July 1, 2024. To access the replay of the webcast, please
visit the investor relations section of www.blackrock.com.
An investor presentation with additional details about the
transaction is also available on the “Events & Presentations”
section of the investor relations website:
https://ir.blackrock.com/news-and-events/events-and-presentations/
About BlackRock
BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience
financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading
provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build
savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing
easier and more affordable. For additional information on
BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate
About Preqin
Preqin, the Home of Alternatives™, empowers financial
professionals who invest in or allocate to alternatives with
essential data and insight to make confident decisions. It supports
them throughout the entire investment lifecycle with critical
information and leading analytics solutions. The company has
pioneered rigorous methods of collecting private data for over 20
years, enabling more than 200,000 professionals globally to
streamline how they raise capital, source deals and investments,
understand performance, and stay informed. For more information
visit www.preqin.com.
Preqin is owned by its management and employees together with
Valhalla Ventures, Founder Mark O'Hare's family holding
company.
Forward Looking Statements
This presentation, and other statements that BlackRock may make,
may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to
BlackRock’s future financial or business performance, strategies or
expectations, including the anticipated timing, consummation and
expected benefits of the proposed Preqin transaction and Preqin’s
projected financial performance. Forward looking statements are
typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,”
“potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,”
“expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,”
“position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,”
“sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or
conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may”
and similar expressions.
BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject
to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over
time and may contain information that is not purely historical in
nature. Such information may include, among other things,
projections and forecasts. There is no guarantee that any forecasts
made will come to pass. Forward-looking statements speak only as of
the date they are made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to and does
not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results
could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking
statements and future results could differ materially from
historical performance.
BlackRock has previously disclosed risk factors in its
Securities and Exchange Commission reports. These risk factors and
those identified elsewhere in this presentation, among others,
could cause actual results to differ materially from
forward-looking statements or historical performance and include:
(1) the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business
initiatives and strategies; (2) changes and volatility in
political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate
environment, foreign exchange rates or financial and capital
markets, which could result in changes in demand for products or
services or in the value of AUM; (3) the relative and absolute
investment performance of BlackRock’s investment products; (4)
BlackRock’s ability to develop new products and services that
address client preferences; (5) the impact of increased
competition; (6) the impact of future acquisitions or divestitures,
including the acquisitions of Preqin (the “Preqin Transaction”) and
Global Infrastructure Partners (the “GIP Transaction” and together
with the Preqin Transaction, the “Transactions”); (7) BlackRock’s
ability to integrate acquired businesses successfully, including
the Transactions; (8) risks related to the Transactions, including
the expected closing date of the Transactions, the possibility that
the Transactions do not close, including, but not limited to, due
to the failure to satisfy the closing conditions, the possibility
that expected synergies and value creation from the Preqin
Transaction will not be realized, or will not be realized within
the expected time period, and impacts to business and operational
relationships related to disruptions from the Transactions; (9) the
unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings; (10) the extent and
timing of any share repurchases; (11) the impact, extent and timing
of technological changes and the adequacy of intellectual property,
data, information and cybersecurity protection; (12) the failure to
effectively manage the development and use of AI; (13) attempts to
circumvent BlackRock’s operational control environment or the
potential for human error in connection with BlackRock’s
operational systems; (14) the impact of legislative and regulatory
actions and reforms, regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions
of government agencies and governmental scrutiny relating to
BlackRock; (15) changes in law and policy and uncertainty pending
any such changes; (16) any failure to effectively manage conflicts
of interest; (17) damage to BlackRock’s reputation; (18) increasing
focus from stakeholders regarding ESG matters; (19) geopolitical
unrest, terrorist activities, civil or international hostilities,
and other events outside BlackRock’s control, including wars,
natural disasters and health crises, which may adversely affect the
general economy, domestic and local financial and capital markets,
specific industries or BlackRock; (20) climate-related risks to
BlackRock's business, products, operations and clients; (21) the
ability to attract, train and retain highly qualified and diverse
professionals; (22) fluctuations in the carrying value of
BlackRock’s economic investments; (23) the impact of changes to tax
legislation, including income, payroll and transaction taxes, and
taxation on products, which could affect the value proposition to
clients and, generally, the tax position of BlackRock; (24)
BlackRock’s success in negotiating distribution arrangements and
maintaining distribution channels for its products; (25) the
failure by key third-party providers of BlackRock to fulfill their
obligations to BlackRock; (26) operational, technological and
regulatory risks associated with BlackRock’s major technology
partnerships; (27) any disruption to the operations of third
parties whose functions are integral to BlackRock’s ETF platform;
(28) the impact of BlackRock electing to provide support to its
products from time to time and any potential liabilities related to
securities lending or other indemnification obligations; and (29)
the impact of problems, instability or failure of other financial
institutions or the failure or negative performance of products
offered by other financial institutions. BlackRock’s Annual Report
on Form 10–K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and BlackRock’s
subsequent filings with the SEC, accessible on the SEC’s website at
www.sec.gov and on BlackRock’s website at www.blackrock.com,
discuss these factors in more detail and identify additional
factors that can affect forward–looking statements. The information
contained on BlackRock’s website is not a part of this
presentation, and therefore, is not incorporated herein by
reference.
BlackRock reports its financial results in accordance with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States
(“GAAP”); however, management believes BlackRock’s ongoing
operating results may be enhanced if investors have additional
non–GAAP financial measures. Management reviews non–GAAP financial
measures to assess ongoing operations and considers them to be
helpful, for both management and investors, in evaluating
BlackRock’s financial performance over time. Management also uses
non–GAAP financial measures as a benchmark to compare its
performance with other companies and to enhance the comparability
of this information for the reporting periods presented. Non–GAAP
measures may pose limitations because they do not include all of
BlackRock’s revenue and expense. BlackRock’s management does not
advocate that investors consider such non–GAAP financial measures
in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information
prepared in accordance with GAAP. Non–GAAP measures may not be
comparable to other similarly titled measures of other
companies.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240630566788/en/
BlackRock Media Relations Ed Sweeney 646-231-0268
Ed.Sweeney@BlackRock.com
BlackRock Investor Relations Caroline Rodda 212-810-3442
Caroline.Rodda@BlackRock.com
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Jun 2024 bis Jul 2024
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Jul 2023 bis Jul 2024