Even BlackRock is fleeing public markets for alternative assets

Private credit: People walk in and out of BlackRock’s headquarters in New York. The HPS deal is perhaps BlackRock’s clearest admission yet that public markets are losing their shine. — AP

ACQUISITION is in BlackRock Inc’s genes. Over the years, it has managed to grow and stay relevant through prescient big-ticket purchases.

The world’s largest asset manager started as a fixed income shop, then got into equities followed by exchange-traded funds (ETFs) just as the US stock market and the concept of passive investing took off.