BlackRock has teamed up with Partners Group to transform retail wealth access to private markets.
Takeaway Points
- BlackRock has teamed up with Partners Group to transform retail wealth access to private markets.
- The solution will provide access to private equity, private credit, and real assets in a single portfolio—currently not available to the U.S. wealth market.
- Retail wealth investors will choose from three risk profiles to determine allocations to BlackRock and Partners Groups funds.
BlackRock Teams Up with Partners Group
BlackRock said on Thursday that they have teamed up with Partners Group to launch a multi-private market model solution set to transform how retail investors access alternative investments. The solution will provide access to private equity, private credit, and real assets in a single portfolio—currently not available to the U.S. wealth market – managed by BlackRock and Partners Group. This first-of-its-kind solution will empower advisors to offer a diversified alternative portfolio with the simplicity, efficiency, and practice management benefits of a traditional public markets model.
The strategic partnership combines BlackRock’s experienced alternatives team, operational expertise, and whole portfolio capabilities powered by Aladdin technology with Partners Group’s long track record of innovation in bringing private markets to the wealth market, leveraging its extensive investment platform and portfolio management capabilities, said BlackRock in a statement.
Mark Wiedman, Head of BlackRock’s Global Client Business, remarked, “We are simplifying how individual investors and advisors access private markets. In a world where private markets are growing by $1 trillion or more every year, many financial advisors still find it too difficult to help their clients participate. We aim to crack that. With Partners Group, we are creating a single, managed account with unified portfolio construction and management. The result? Simplified, efficient access for financial advisors and their clients.”
Steffen Meister, Partners Group’s Executive Chairman, said, “This separately managed account solution has the potential to revolutionize the wealth management industry, setting a new benchmark for institutional-quality programs that meet wealth investors’ private markets portfolio needs. The financing of business has undergone a major transformation in recent decades with private markets playing a key role in the real economy, so it is vital that investors have access to private markets investments as part of a balanced portfolio.”
How will investors operate?
The company said that retail wealth investors will choose from three risk profiles to determine allocations to BlackRock and Partners Group’s funds, including BlackRock’s private equity, private credit, and systematic funds and Partners Group’s private equity, growth equity, and infrastructure funds.
These investors allocated $2.3T to private markets in 2020 and are expected to increase their allocations to $5.1T by 2025, according to a Morgan Stanley/Oliver Wyman study.
About BlackRock
BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable.
About Partners Group
Partners Group is one of the largest firms in the global private markets industry. The firm has investment programs and custom mandates spanning private equity, private credit, infrastructure, real estate, and royalties. With its heritage in Switzerland and its primary presence in the Americas in Colorado, Partners Group is built differently from the rest of the industry. The firm leverages its differentiated culture and its operationally oriented approach to identify attractive investment themes and to build businesses and assets into market leaders.