BlackRock
BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) is the world’s largest asset manager. Under chairman and CEO Larry Fink, the firm has aggressively expanded into private markets — most prominently by completing its $12 billion all-stock acquisition of HPS Investment Partners on July 1, 2025, instantly creating a private-financing platform with roughly $190 billion in combined assets under management.
The combined platform competes head-on with Apollo, Ares Management, Blackstone and Goldman Sachs Asset Management for bank-channel deal flow — the most coveted funnel in private credit.