Asset management giant "marries"! BlackRock negotiates to acquire a small percentage of Millennium Fund shares, seeking strategic cooperation
BlackRock intends to expand in the rapidly growing alternative investment sector, while the Millennium Fund hopes to diversify its business
The world's largest asset management company, BlackRock, and hedge fund giant Millennium are seeking collaboration, with the former aiming to expand into the rapidly growing alternative investment sector, while the latter hopes to diversify its business.
According to media reports on Friday, sources revealed that BlackRock is in preliminary discussions with Millennium Fund to establish a strategic partnership, and the world's largest asset manager may take a stake in the most profitable hedge fund.
Although the equity stake may be small, the potential collaboration reflects BlackRock's desire to expand into alternative investments and indicates that Millennium wishes to continue its business expansion.
For Millennium Fund, it has been building strategic partnerships or accepting external investments for years, with various groups interested, ranging from private equity firms to sovereign wealth funds.
Last year, Millennium Fund was in negotiations for a multi-billion dollar investment collaboration with smaller competitor Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, but the talks were later canceled as Schonfeld's existing investors expressed a willingness to provide more funds for management.
Millennium Fund was founded by Izzy Englander and manages up to $69.5 billion in assets, with over 330 investment teams operating under strict risk controls. Currently, it has only one flagship fund, which has a return rate of 10% in the first ten months of this year. Since its launch, the fund has averaged an annual return of about 14%. For the first time in 30 years, the fund is considering launching a new fund, aimed at targeting illiquid assets such as private credit.
For BlackRock, CEO Larry Fink has identified alternative investments (which charge higher fees than traditional investment funds) as a strategic focus and has been making acquisitions in related fields. Since the beginning of this year, the group has acquired Global Infrastructure Partners and alternative data provider Preqin, and is in negotiations with private credit management company HPS.
Now, the GIP deal has been completed, and this asset management company, with $11.5 trillion in assets under management, oversees $450 billion in alternative assets, including $76 billion in hedge funds and other "alternative liquidity assets."