BlackRock in Advanced Talks to Buy Private-Credit Firm HPS

BlackRock is seeking to replicate its dominant scale in stock and bond markets in private assets, which are increasingly sought by pensions, insurers, sovereign wealth funds and wealthy retail clients.

Several weeks ago, the company completed a $12.5 billion acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners, making BlackRock into the second-largest manager of infrastructure assets.

It’s already in the final stages of closing a £2.55 billion ($3.3 billion) deal for private-markets data provider Preqin Ltd., which Fink has said will help the company “index the private markets” and lay the groundwork for ETFs to be tied to alternative assets.

HPS manages more than $100 billion, making it one of the largest independent managers in the surging private-credit market. That’s been pegged at $1.7 trillion, but proponents say the market encompasses a broader range of assets and could grow to between $20 trillion and $40 trillion.

Founded in 2007 by Scott Kapnick, Scot French and Mike Patterson, the firm bought itself out of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2016, a complicated deal that valued it at close to $1 billion.

(Credit: Bloomberg)