BlackRock

BlackRock grew its longstanding success as an investment manager through putting money in stocks and bonds in public markets. But it’s morphing to also invest in private assets like infrastructure and real estate. In October, it completed a $12 billion acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners, which owns infrastructure like airports (including London Gatwick and Sydney), ports, renewable energy, and more. And in March, BlackRock struck a $22.8 billion deal for control of port facilities at the Panama Canal and other ports that were owned by a Hong Kong firm. The deal came right as President Trump was pushing for U.S. control of the major throughway for global trade. Co-founder and CEO Larry Fink urged other investors to consider carving out about 20% of their portfolio for private assets like real estate and infrastructure, in his widely read annual letter to investors in March, Fink argued that BlackRock was poised to benefit in a $68 trillion infrastructure boom. “We’re standing at the edge of an opportunity so vast,” he wrote, “it’s almost hard to grasp.”