Industry figures have expressed scepticism over plans by BlackRock to extend the scope of the fast-growing exchange traded fund industry into the world of illiquid private assets. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with $10.5tn of assets under management, unveiled the £2.55bn acquisition of Preqin, a UK-based private markets data group, earlier this month. In the wake of the deal chief financial officer, Martin Small, said on an investor call that “in the long range . . .
” Another leading industry figure, who requested anonymity, said he would not read too much into Small’s comments, given that Small has a background in ETFs, having run iShares’ North American arm. “I don’t think was the reason they bought ,” he said. “I don’t think they have an intention or desire or pipeline to do it any time soon.