BlackRock's $3.22 Billion Acquisition of Preqin

BlackRock has agreed to pay $3.22 billion for UK data business Preqin, as part of the world’s largest asset manager’s ambitions to strengthen data capabilities as it expands into private market assets.

The New York-based corporation announced late Sunday that it had agreed to buy privately held Preqin for 2.55 billion pounds ($3.22 billion) in cash. It anticipates the transaction to completion before the end of the year, subject regulatory approvals.

BlackRock Offer

BlackRock plans to continue offering Preqin as a standalone service while also integrating it with the asset manager’s proprietary Aladdin software to “create a preeminent private markets technology and data provider.”

“Private markets are the fastest growing segment of asset management, adding that alternative assets are likely to total over $40 trillion by the end of the decade.

Preqin, created in 2003, focuses on the global alternatives market by providing statistics on private capital, hedge funds, infrastructure, real estate, and natural resources asset classes, as well as releasing rankings of top-performing private equity and venture capital fund managers, among other things.

The company employs over 500 researchers worldwide, the majority of whom are located in the Asia-Pacific area.

According to BlackRock, Preqin is expected to generate almost $240 million in sales in 2024, after growing at a rate of roughly 20% per year over the previous three years.

Barclays served as BlackRock’s principal financial adviser in the transaction, while Goldman Sachs International advised Preqin.

BlackRock has been focusing on expanding its private-market activities, which are faster growing and possibly more profitable than its main business of offering low-cost passive investing products like exchange-traded funds.

In January, it agreed to buy private equity company Global Infrastructure Partners for approximately $12.5 billion in cash and stock, and this week it announced a partnership with Chicago-based GeoWealth to provide private equity and debt funds in tailored portfolios to financial advisers across the United States.

BlackRock’s assets under management increased to $10.47 trillion in the first quarter, up 15% year on year, supported by $57 billion in net inflows into its investment products.