By Jack Pitcher
BlackRock announced its largest acquisition in 15 years Friday ( and analysts say the world’s largest asset manager may not be done shopping.
BlackRock’s $12.5 billion deal to buy Global Infrastructure Partners will give it a significantly larger footprint in private markets, a business that has been in high demand with institutional and high-net worth clients.
Wells Fargo analyst Finian O’Shea sees potential for BlackRock to target another private markets acquisition, this time in credit.
“Successful integration of GIP likely will be the priority, but another private markets M&A move (perhaps in credit) seems reasonably likely,” O’Shea wrote in an analyst note Friday.
Private credit–or debt financing for corporations that’s provided directly from private investors, instead of through the publicly syndicated bond market–has experienced explosive growth in recent years (
NOTE: In-line links reference additional content of interest chosen by the WSJ news team.
This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).