FUNDRAISING NEWS | September 17, 2024
BlackRock is revamping its private credit business at a time when its competitors are announcing moves to expand their reach in the space, Bloomberg reported September 16.
According to Bloomberg, BlackRock is setting up a new division called “Global Direct Lending” and has tapped Stephan Caron, head of its European middle-market private debt business, to lead it. In the wake of the move, Jim Keenan, global head of the asset manager’s private debt business and a longtime BlackRock veteran, will depart, along with Raj Vig, co-head of its US private capital business.
“Private credit is one of the firm’s top priorities,” Rich Kushel, head of BlackRock’s portfolio management group, wrote in a September 16 memo obtained by Bloomberg. “This new structure will increase collaboration and alignment as we expand and develop our capabilities while maintaining the discreet investment processes that underpin each franchise.”
The news comes as BlackRock’s rivals have made important recent announcements of their own, with State Street saying it plans to partner with Apollo Global Management on a private credit ETF and BNY revealing it will make private market opportunities available to RIAs and independent broker dealers later this fall through a new technology platform.
The move signals that BlackRock could be taking a different approach while attempting to improve its competitiveness in the private credit space. As BlackRock strategist Tushar Yadava told Bloomberg ETF IQ on September 16, the asset manager seemingly has no immediate plans to follow in State Street’s footsteps.
“Private credit is something that our team does use for certain investors in certain different portfolios,” he said. “In an ETF form, we’d need to do a lot of the due diligence, a lot of the seasoning that’s required to understand what we’re putting in portfolios before we can use it.”
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Jane Bailey is a Marketing Associate at Dakota.
