BlackRock’s Purchase of GIP Deepens Its Alts Exposure

Global Infrastructure Partners adds $100 billion in assets to the finance giant.


BlackRock continued its expansion into alternative investments by announcing Friday that it was buying one of the world’s largest infrastructure private equity firms, Global Infrastructure Partners, for $12.5 billion.

The deal, expected to close in the third quarter, is composed of $3 billion in cash and 12 billion shares of BlackRock common stock, which were priced at $800 per share Friday afternoon. Approximately 30% of the total consideration, all in stock, will be deferred and is expected to be issued in approximately five years, subject to the satisfaction of certain post-closing events, according to information from BlackRock about the acquisition.

“Infrastructure is a $1 trillion market forecasted to be one of the fastest-growing segments of private markets in the years ahead,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said during an earnings call, where the deal was unveiled. Alts now amount to just 3% of BlackRock’s assets but bring in 10% of its fees, according to Bloomberg.

The GIP acquisition is BlackRock’s biggest since its 2009 buyout of Barclays Global Investors, which made Fink’s firm the largest provider of exchange-traded funds. GIP has about $100 billion in assets, which will supplement BlackRock’s $47 billion in infrastructure holdings. BlackRock’s total assets under management are $9.1 trillion.

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Based in New York City like BlackRock, GIP was founded in 2006, with Credit Suisse and General Electric as initial investors in its first fund, which raised $5.6 billion. Two of GIP’s notable investments are Gatwick Airport and Edinburgh Airport in the U.K. GIP has numerous energy holdings, such as ADNOC Gas Pipelines and Terra-Gen, an energy company.

The deal sparked hope among some on Wall Street that it might be a sign that the long merger drought was over.

“There have been very few deals [recently],” says Kevin Gallagher, a principal at consulting firm Casey Quirk. The ones over the past year have been very small or distressed scenarios, he noted, such as UBS’s takeover of woebegone Credit Suisse. A tie-up like the BlackRock-GIP transaction could mean the merger scene might get busier, he suggested.

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