BlackRock Inc.
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| BlackRock Inc. | |
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| Founded | 1988 |
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| Headquarters | Headquartered in New York. Serves clients from offices in 19 countries, maintaining a major presence in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. |
| Key People | Laurence D. Fink, Chief Executive |
| Employees | 5,100 |
| Products | Risk management and trade processing |
| Corporate Website | www.blackrock.com |
BlackRock Inc. is a provider of global investment management services. As of 31 March 2009, BlackRock's assets under management total $1.28 trillion across equity, fixed income, cash management, alternative investment and real estate strategies. The company is the biggest provider of exchange-traded funds in the U.S. [1]
BlackRock is independent in ownership and governance, with no single majority stockholder and a majority of independent directors. In terms of equity, the stake held by Bank of America Merrill Lynch is approximately 49 percent, while PNC Financial Services Group retains an interest of about 34 percent. The remaining 17 percent is held by BlackRock employees and the public.
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History
BlackRock was founded in 1988 by former mortgage-bond trader Laurence Fink as the Financial Management Group within the private equity firm Blackstone Group. The company changed its name to BlackRock in 1992. [2]
The company merged with PNC Financial Services Group in 1995. In 2000, BlackRock began offering risk management and trade processing tools to external clients under the BlackRock Solutions brand. The tools were designed to provide portfolio transparency and increased efficiency. As of March 31, 2007, BlackRock Solutions provided services for over $4.5 trillion in securities and derivatives across 94 clients, many of whom are some of the largest financial institutions in the world.
Blackrock merged in 2006 with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM).
In October of 2007, BlackRock acquired the fund of funds business of Quellos Group, LLC to form one integrated fund of funds platform.
In June 2009, the company agreed to acquire Barclays Global Investors, including exchange-traded funds platform iShares, from parent company Barclays Plc for $13.5 billion. The companies combined to create an asset management firm operating under the name BlackRock Global Investors with combined assets under management of over $2.7 trillion, according to BlackRock.[3] Barclays retained a 19.9 percent stake in the combined company.
In April of 2012, Blackrock announced it would launch a trading platform in 2012 that would let the world's largest money manager and its peers bypass Wall Street and trade bonds directly with one another.[4]
Products and Services
BlackRock World Investment Trust was founded in 2005 in Wilmington, Delaware. It is a diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Trust’s primary investment objective is to seek current income, dividends and gains, with a secondary objective of long-term capital appreciation.
The Trust seeks to achieve its objectives by investing primarily in equity securities issued by companies located in countries throughout the world and utilizing an option writing strategy to enhance current gains. It aims to generate current dividends and income by investing in equity securities that pay dividends and also by investing up to 25 percent of its total assets in debt securities from time to time when the Trust believes that it is advantageous to do so.
Key People
- Laurence D. Fink, chief executive [5]
- Robert S. Kapito, President
- Susan L. Wagner, Vice Chairman
- Kendrick R. Wilson III, Vice Chairman
- Mark McCombe, Chairman of Asia Pacific
- James J. Charrington, Chairman of Europe, Middle East & Africa
- Robert P. Connolly, General Counsel
- Robert W. Fairbairn, Head of Global Client Group
- Bennett W. Golub, Ph.D., Chief Risk Officer
- Charles S. Hallac, Chief Operating Officer
- J. Richard Kushel, Head of Portfolio Management
- Ann Marie Petach, Chief Financial Officer
- Jeffrey A. Smith, Ph.D., Head of Human Resources
References
- ↑ BlackRock to Cut iShares ETF Fees. Bloomberg.
- ↑ BlackRock to Buy Barclays Fund Unit for $13.5 Billion. Bloomberg.
- ↑ BlackRock To Acquire Barclays Global Investors. Securities Industry News.
- ↑ BlackRock's Street Shortcut. WSJ.com.
- ↑ BlackRock to Acquire Stake in Barclays Unit. The New York Times.
