BlackRock Restructures Management for Potential Successors to Larry Fink

(April 7, 2014) — BlackRock announced major changes to its top management ranks, including moves that point to selecting a successor to co-Founder and CEO Larry Fink, 61, according to an internal memo published by The New York Times.

In the letter, Fink and Rob Kapito, president and director of the world’s largest asset management firm, promoted eight current senior executives and hired one new appointee, all effective from June 1. New York-based BlackRock manages $4.3 trillion in assets.

“Periodically moving leaders to new roles as part of this process was a key rationale for the re-organization of the firm in 2012 and is a key driver of the management changes we are announcing today,” Fink and Kapito wrote.

According to an internal conference call reported by Reuters, BlackRock spokesman Brian Beades said both Fink and Kapito will remain in their current roles “for year years to come”.

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One of the biggest moves is the promotion of Charles Hallac, current COO, to co-president, working alongside Kapito. He will continue to oversee client businesses, investment groups, and product management.

“Among our ‘home grown’ leaders, no one exemplifies the values and spirit of BlackRock better than Charlie,” the memo said. “An initial architect of Aladdin (BlackRock’s trade management system), Charlie has been one of our most original and gifted leaders since joining the firm shortly after its formation in 1988.”

Hallac, who is currently fighting colon cancer, will be tasked to “lead a working group to think through how BlackRock technology can further transform our company and industry,” according to the notice.

“Even while undergoing treatment, Charlie is at the office day after day, helping us create and execute our vision with the same genius, humor, and creativity that have defined him as a leader and colleague these past 26 years,” Fink and Kapito said. “We are grateful that BlackRock will continue to benefit from his leadership in this new role.”

Replacing Hallac’s position will be 20-year BlackRock veteran Rob Goldstein, current global head of institutional client business and solutions. A key player in developing the Aladdin business, Goldstein will work with Kapito and Hallac to manage day-to-day global operations. He will also continue to lead BlackRock Solutions.

In addition, Rich Kushel, deputy COO, was promoted to chief product officer.

“We are elevating this role to reflect how vital our product strategy is to our future success,” Fink and Kapito said. “Rich’s leadership of the strategic product management group has redefined our product development and management process, bringing strategic focus and executional discipline to our product portfolio.”

Other moves included Mark McCombe, chairman of BlackRock Asia Pacific, to New York-based global head of institutional client business and chairman of BlackRock alternative investors; Ryan Stork, global head of the Aladdin business to head of BlackRock Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong; Quintin Price, global head of alpha strategies to the New York office; Ken Wilson, chairman of BlackRock alternative investors to chairman of alpha strategies, working closely with Price; Patrick Olson, global head of strategy and planning to COO of EMEA, and; Sudhir Nair, head of business development and implementation & delivery for the Aladdin business to global head of the Aladdin institutional business.

BlackRock also hired Salim Ramji, a senior partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Company, as global head of corporate strategy.

The reshuffle follows the abrupt shake-up in executive management at PIMCO—its chief executive and heir-apparent Mohamed El-Erian resigned in March, causing a mass reorganisation at the bond manager, including the appointment of six new deputy CIOs to replace him, and reportedly bitter tension with co-Founder Bill Gross.

(April 7, 2014) — The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) has overhauled its $214 billion Japanese stock portfolio, adding new managers and introducing smart beta strategies.

The world’s largest pension fund—running more than $1.3 trillion in assets—has decided to reduce passive investments that track the Topix index, according to an April 4 statement.

Its more traditional active investments are to be streamlined to make room for smart-beta strategies, the GPIF said.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Nomura Funds Research and Technologies, and Nomura Asset Management will run the smart beta strategies.

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Goldman Sachs will use the S&P GIVI Japan index as its benchmark, which weights stocks based on their “intrinsic value” calculated by assessing the value of each company’s assets and their forecast earnings growth, according to the website of S&P Dow Jones Indices, which created the gauge.

One of those new strategies involves a new benchmark, the JPX-Nikkei 400, which is designed to encourage investment in stocks with a high return on equity. Diam Co, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corporation were appointed to oversee passive investments on that index.

BlackRock Japan was also appointed, and will use the MSCI Japan Index, while Mizuho Trust & Banking Company will invest based on the Russell Nomura Prime Index.

“We aimed for an overhaul that would show just what kind of stock investment GPIF is targeting,” Tokihiko Shimizu, director of general of the research department at GPIF, told Bloomberg on April 4. “We made bold changes.”

In total, GPIF selected 14 active and 10 passive investment managers, eight of which had existing mandates from the fund, according to the statement. It also said it will make passive and active investments in Japanese real-estate investment trusts.

The push into alternatives follows its March 2014 decision to enter into a five-year, $2.7 billion infrastructure co-investment agreement with Canadian pension giant Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) and the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ).

Under the agreement, GPIF will invest up to $2.7 billion in infrastructure opportunities chosen through a “unit trust” with the DBJ. OMERS will source and propose potential investments to the trust.

The revamped strategy comes amid pressure on GPIF to achieve higher returns to pay the pension payouts for Japan’s aging population.

GPIF is also planning to introduce a new performance-based fee structure for active managers, although there were no exact details listed in its statement. It currently pays fees to Japanese equities managers equating to 0.04% of the assets they oversaw in the year ended March 31, 2013, according to Bloomberg.