BlackRock had $6.444 trillion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, up 2.3% from the previous quarter and 7.8% higher than a year earlier, the firm said Tuesday in its earnings statement.
Long-term net inflows of $10.6 billion in the third quarter compared to $14.5 billion in the previous quarter and $76 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2017. Equity net outflows for the latest quarter were $17.3 billion with net inflows of $23 billion into fixed income, $3.2 billion into multiasset strategies and $1.7 billion into alternatives.
However, BlackRock's institutional business experienced long-term net outflows of $24.8 billion, with $1.2 billion from active strategies and $23.6 billion from passive strategies. In the previous quarter, total net institutional outflows were $8.8 billion while the third quarter 2017 saw net institutional inflows of $14 billion.
Institutional net outflows in the latest quarter were driven by $30 billion in non-exchange-traded fund passive outflows, chiefly from clients following derisking strategies, Laurence D. Fink, BlackRock chairman and CEO, said in a conference call on the third-quarter earnings.
Assets in BlackRock's institutional business were $3.482 trillion as of Sept. 30, up 1.6% from three months earlier and up 5.5% from the end of the third quarter 2017.
BlackRock's total AUM was boosted by $28 billion obtained through the acquisitions of Citibanamex Asset Management and private credit manager Tennenbaum Capital Partners, both of which closed in the third quarter, Mr. Fink said.
BlackRock's iShares ETF business saw long-term net inflows of $33.7 billion, vs. net inflows of $17.8 billion in the previous quarter and $52 billion in the third quarter 2017 quarter. IShares assets totaled $1.853 trillion as of Sept. 30, up 4.2% from three months earlier and 13% higher than the end of the third quarter of the previous year.
Mr. Fink said that BlackRock's iShares business benefited from Fidelity Investments' announcement in the quarter that it was offering fee-free investments, leading investors to put more money into iShares' commission-free products.
BlackRock's global retail business saw long-term net inflows of $1.7 billion in the latest quarter, compared to $5 billion in the second quarter and $7 billion a year earlier.
The firm's revenue was $3.58 billion, down 0.8% from the previous quarter but up 6.8% from a year earlier. Net income was $1.22 billion, up 14% from the second quarter and 29% higher than a year ago.
