BlackRock Adds Direct Private Equity to Alternatives Enterprise

Accomplished Team of Industry Veterans to Leverage Global Investment Platformin Sourcing Opportunities for Clients

NEW YORK, LONDON, HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) today announced that it has added private equity to its growing stable of alternative offerings for clients. Industry veterans Nathan Thorne, George Bitar and Mandy Puri have joined the firm as Managing Directors and form the leadership team of the BlackRock Global Private Equity platform which is expected to include approximately 20 professionals within the next year.

In this capacity, Messrs. Thorne, Bitar and Ms. Puri will oversee the build-out and ensure the connectedness of private equity to BlackRock’s global investment platform, comprised of more than 1,500 investment professionals that will provide the team with insights into industry dynamics, companies and management teams. They will report to Matthew Botein, Managing Director and Head of BlackRock Alternative Investors (“BAI”). At March 31, BAI represented $115.3 billion of assets under management and included the firm’s hedge funds, hedge funds of funds, real estate, private equity funds of funds, opportunistic investment vehicles, commodities and currencies. “With the addition of these private equity capabilities, alongside our private equity funds of funds and co-investment funds under the capable management of Russ Steenberg, we now have a complete set of private equity capabilities to offer to our clients,” Mr. Botein concluded.

“We’re delighted to be bringing a proven private equity investment team to BAI,” commented Robert S. Kapito, President of BlackRock. “As Matt and his team have worked to round-out our alternative offerings, we recognized that this particular business was the most important gap in the alternatives portfolio and one in which we have a clear competitive advantage.”

“BlackRock looked at a great number of opportunities as we sought a leadership team that could substantially accelerate our entry into this business, with a focus on identifying a team with a proven record of disciplined private equity investing,” stated Mr. Botein. “Equally important, however, we needed a team that knew how to navigate and leverage the sourcing, diligence and financing advantages presented by being a part of a financial institution with the global footprint and operational scale of BlackRock. We found that in this team. Their depth of experience and deep understanding of private equity – investing successfully in developed and emerging markets through various economic cycles and market disruptions – will expedite our ability to offer clients best-in-class capabilities.”

Messrs. Thorne, Bitar and Ms. Puri began working together at Merrill Lynch in 1990 and went on to found Merrill Lynch”s private equity business in 1994 where they remained until 2009 under Bank of America Corporation. Examples of notable private equity investments in which the team was involved include HCA, Debenhams and Hertz.

“BlackRock is exceptionally well positioned to succeed in private equity,” said Mr. Thorne. “No other fiduciary has the global insights and relationships to generate attractive investment opportunities like BlackRock. We are eager to take advantage of these unique resources on behalf of investor clients.”

Biographical Information:

George A. Bitar: Managing Director and co-head of BlackRock’s Global Private Equity Group, joined BlackRock in 2011. Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Bitar was the co-head of North America and co-founder of Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, the private equity arm of Merrill Lynch & Co.. As co-head of North America, he built and managed a U.S. team of 22 investment professionals. Prior to his private equity experience, Mr. Bitar was with the High Yield Finance and Restructuring Group within Merrill Lynch's investment banking division, where he advised troubled companies in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Australia and helped U.S., Canadian, European and Australian companies access the U.S. high yield debt market. Mr. Bitar earned a BS degree in Systems Engineering from Boston University in 1986 and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School in 1991.

Mandakini Puri: Managing Director and co-head of BlackRock’s Global Private Equity Group, joined BlackRock in 2011. Prior to joining BlackRock, Ms. Puri was the Chief Investment Officer and co-founder of Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, the private equity arm of Merrill Lynch & Co. As Chief Investment Officer, Ms. Puri developed and oversaw the investment approval and review process as well as the periodic review and valuation of investments. Ms. Puri has worked on developing investment opportunities and sourcing in the U.S., Asia and Latin America. She joined Merrill Lynch in 1986 and started working in the areas of mergers & acquisitions, restructuring from 1987 to 1991 and leveraged finance from 1992 to 1994 within Merrill Lynch's investment banking division. Ms. Puri is a member of the Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Ms. Puri earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Delhi University in 1979 and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1986.

Nathan Thorne: Managing Director and co-head of BlackRock’s Global Private Equity Group, joined BlackRock in 2011. Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Thorne was the Chairman, President and co-founder of Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, the private equity arm of Merrill Lynch & Co.Mr. Thorne joined Merrill Lynch in 1984. Prior to leading the private equity initiative, he served in a number of senior positions within Merrill Lynch's investment banking division. He began his career at Citibank, NY in 1976. Mr. Thorne earned a BA degree in English Language and Literature from Yale College in 1976.

About BlackRock

BlackRock is a leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for institutional and retail clients worldwide. At March 31, 2011, BlackRock’s AUM was $3.648 trillion. BlackRock offers products that span the risk spectrum to meet clients’ needs, including active, enhanced and index strategies across markets and asset classes. Products are offered in a variety of structures including separate accounts, mutual funds, iShares® (exchange-traded funds), and other pooled investment vehicles. BlackRock also offers risk management, advisory and enterprise investment system services to a broad base of institutional investors through BlackRock Solutions®. Headquartered in New York City, as of March 31, 2011, the firm has approximately 9,300 employees in 26 countries and a major presence in key global markets, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East and Africa. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.blackrock.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This release, and other statements that BlackRock may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to BlackRock’s future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,” “position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,” “sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or similar expressions. BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance. In addition to risk factors previously disclosed in BlackRock’s Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) reports and those identified elsewhere in this release the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: (1) the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives and strategies; (2) changes and volatility in political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate environment, foreign exchange rates or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in demand for products or services or in the value of assets under management; (3) the relative and absolute investment performance of BlackRock’s investment products; (4) the impact of increased competition; (5) the impact of capital improvement projects; (6) the impact of future acquisitions or divestitures; (7) the unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings; (8) the extent and timing of any share repurchases; (9) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes and the adequacy of intellectual property and information security protection; (10) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies relating to BlackRock, Barclays Bank PLC, Bank of America Corporation, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. or The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.; (11) terrorist activities, international hostilities and natural disasters, which may adversely affect the general economy, domestic and local financial and capital markets, specific industries or BlackRock; (12) the ability to attract and retain highly talented professionals; (13) fluctuations in the carrying value of BlackRock’s economic investments; (14) the impact of changes to tax legislation and, generally, the tax position of the Company; (15) BlackRock’s success in maintaining the distribution of its products; (16) the impact of BlackRock electing to provide support to its products from time to time; (17) the impact of problems at other financial institutions or the failure or negative performance of products at other financial institutions; and (18) the ability of BlackRock to complete the integration of the operations of Barclays Global Investors.

BlackRock's Annual Report on Form 10-K and BlackRock's subsequent filings with the SEC, accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and on BlackRock’s website at www.blackrock.com, discuss these factors in more detail and identify additional factors that can affect forward-looking statements. The information contained on our website is not a part of this press release.

BlackRock, Inc.
Media RelationsBobbie Collins, 212-810-8155
[email protected]
Investor RelationsEllen Taylor, 212-810-3815
[email protected]

Source: BlackRock, Inc.