BlackRock's biggest reorganisation in years reflects a belief that the $10tn money manager must move faster to capture a wave of investment from clients who will be moving out of cash and seeking new products, according to analysts and executives. The shake-up, announced this month alongside BlackRock's $12.5bn acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners, will combine the various businesses that develop and manage the products it sells under a single executive.
The idea is a single product strategy that combines active and passive investing, and all the different wrappers, from exchange traded funds to separately managed accounts. It is also consolidating its international businesses, now that nearly half of new investor money comes from outside the US. Chief executive Larry Fink told employees in a memo announcing the shake-up and the GIP acquisition that 'this bold and ambitious transformation of our firm positions us better than ever before to . . . seize the opportunities ahead of us'. Analysts said that the changes took aim at a longstanding problem for money manager