ETF flows push BlackRock to $10.6T AUM summit

The world’s largest asset manager has just gotten much bigger.

BlackRock ascended to a new AUM record, reaching $10.6 trillion, thanks in no small part to strong performance in its ETF business.

On Monday, the firm revealed that investors plowed $83 billion into its ETFs in the second quarter, which CEO Larry Fink said was the unit’s best-ever recorded start to the year.

“Organic growth was driven by private markets, retail active fixed income, and surging flows into our ETFs, which had their best start to a year on record,” Fink said in a statement Monday.

Also fueling organic growth at the asset manager were the $35 billion in net flows into its fixed income strategies and $30 billion in net flows into cash management and money market funds, pushing total net flows to $82 billion.

A rising tide in markets also helped boost assets at the asset management behemoth, with the S&P 500 index jumping some 4 percent during the reported quarter as building hopes of a soft landing in the US and the continuing AI frenzy kept investors energized.

Shares in BlackRock ticked up 1.2 percent in pre-market trading, reported Reuters.

"BlackRock is executing on the broadest opportunity set we've seen in years, including in private markets," Fink said.

In June, the company unveiled that it plans to snap up Preqin, a private-markets data provider, in a $3.2 billion play to extend its reach into the space.

That deal comes on top its announced acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners in January for some $12.5 billion.

BlackRock’s master plan to go beyond the staid world of stocks and bonds goes even further back, as it swallowed Kreos Capital last year to push into private debt, and acquired eFront, a software provider that lets investors evaluate private market assets, in 2019.

“BlackRock is defining a unique, integrated approach to private markets - spanning investment, technology workflows and data,” Fink said. “We believe this will deepen our relationships with clients, and deliver value for our shareholders through premium, diversified organic revenue growth.”