BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) is to acquire Aperio from Golden Gate Capital and the company’s employees, for $1.05 billion in cash.
Aperio is a Sausalito, California-based leader in customizing tax-optimized index equity separately managed accounts (SMAs) to reflect each client’s unique risk, tax, and personal values preferences. The company delivers the capabilities needed by wealth managers to embrace the uniqueness of each investor and enhance after-tax performance. The company also pioneered individually customized ESG portfolios that enable investors to elevate the purpose of their wealth and make an impact on causes deeply important to them.
BlackRock is a provider of SMAs for U.S. wealth management-focused intermediaries. The firm’s SMA franchise specializes in providing customized actively-managed fixed income, equity, and multi-asset strategies. The combination with Aperio will boost BlackRock’s SMA assets by roughly 30% to over $160 billion and expand personalization capabilities available to wealth managers from BlackRock via tax-managed strategies across factors, broad market indexing, and investor ESG preferences across all asset classes.
BlackRock plans to operate Aperio as a separately branded, vertically integrated team within BlackRock’s U.S. Wealth Advisory business. Aperio will retain its investment, business development, client service, and ESG-SRI processes under the leadership of Ran Leshem and Liz Michaels, who will become co-heads of the Aperio team upon joining BlackRock, a transition already announced last summer by Aperio. Current Aperio CEO, Patrick Geddes, will maintain his role as Aperio’s Chief Tax Strategist and become a BlackRock senior advisor, focusing on broadening portfolio construction research and tools for taxable investors across asset classes.
FinSMEs
24/11/2020