BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink has been searching for years for the right private markets partner to make his $10tn money manager as formidable a player in alternative investments as it is in traditional asset management.
His overtures to private equity, private credit and hedge funds rarely got beyond the first meal. Often the cultures or business models clashed. When the alternatives titans got intrigued by the idea of a tie-up, they proved unwilling to give BlackRock the majority control it wanted.
Global Infrastructure Partners was different. When Fink and GIP founder Adebayo Ogunlesi met for an October dinner at Fasano, an Italian restaurant steps away from Rockefeller Center in New York, the menu included plans for a combination that could shake up the investment management industry.