BlackRock has created a new private credit division, a spokesperson confirmed — the latest move by the world’s largest money manager in the area of private markets.
The division, global direct lending, will be led by Stephan Caron, head of European private debt, she said.
The $10.65 trillion money manager runs about $35 billion in direct lending assets, according to Bloomberg.
The move is the latest by the money manager to expand in private markets. In its last quarterly earnings update, for the three months ended June 30, CEO Larry Fink said: “BlackRock is executing on the broadest opportunity set we’ve seen in years, including in private markets, Aladdin and whole portfolio solutions across both ETFs and active.”
In July, BlackRock agreed to acquire U.K.-based private markets data firm Preqin in a $3.2 billion cash deal. The agreement expands its Aladdin technology and data platform capabilities, the firm said at the time, and marked a strategic expansion of the technology business into the private markets data segment. Preqin’s data covers private debt among other private markets asset classes.
The Preqin deal followed the June announcement that BlackRock had agreed to acquire growth and venture debt financing firm Kreos Capital. At the time, the firm said the deal plugged a gap in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and added capabilities in a high-growth part of the private debt market.
The firm has also been adding investment expertise in private credit across the globe, including the appointment of Stephen Allan as head of Australasia private credit in December, a new addition to expand the Asia-Pacific private credit team.
BlackRock said in its 2024 private markets outlook that it sees the potential for the global private debt market to reach $3.5 trillion in assets under management by the end of 2028 — up from $1.6 trillion globally as of March 2023.
