(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. is launching its largest sweeping organizational overhaul in years, according to an internal memo.
The world’s largest asset manager is installing new leaders at an alternatives investment division, reorganizing sales staff and shifting around two dozen directors into different roles, according to the memo to staff Tuesday.
“Today we are making a number of changes designed to ensure we stay ahead of our clients’ and society’s needs,” BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink and President Rob Kapito wrote in the memo.
Edwin Conway, who previously led BlackRock’s interactions with institutional clients, will become global head of the alternatives business, according to the memo. Jim Barry, the firm’s head of real assets, will become investment chief for the group.
BlackRock has sought to expand beyond indexed products, which account for about two-thirds of assets under management, and bolster its alternatives business. On Monday the New York-based company, with about $6 trillion in assets, said it had completed its first fundraising round for a private equity vehicle. The Long Term Private Capital fund secured $2.75 billion from investors, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
And in March the firm agreed to acquire eFront, a software provider focused on private equity and real estate data, which it plans to add to its own Aladdin risk-management platform. Last year, BlackRock purchased Tennenbaum Capital Partners, a private credit manager based in Los Angeles.
In January, BlackRock announced other organizational changes. The company promoted Mark Wiedman to a new global strategy role from his post as head of its powerhouse exchange-traded funds business, putting the firm’s chief executive succession plan more in focus. Wiedman will oversee international operations and corporate strategy for the firm.
The Wall Street Journal reported the changes earlier Tuesday.
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