MADRID, January 16 (EUROPE PRESS) –
American fund manager BlackRock announced this Friday that it will buy for $12,500 million (€11,413 million) the investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), operator of Gatwick, Edinburgh and Sydney airports, among other infrastructures.
According to a joint press release, the deal will consist of $3 billion (€2.739 million) in cash and approximately 12 million BlackRock shares valued at approximately $9.500 million (€8.674 million) at market close this Thursday. million euros).
In addition, current GIP President and CEO Adebayo Ogunlesi will join BlackRock’s board of directors upon completion of the transaction, which is expected before the end of the third quarter of 2024. The acquirer does not expect the acquisition to change the company’s rating. assigned a rating of S&P “AA-” and Moody’s “Aa3”.
“The unprecedented need for new digital infrastructure, improved logistics hubs, decarbonization and energy security, coupled with unprecedented government budget shortfalls, means private capital will be needed more than ever,” BlackRock co-founder Rob Capito said in an internal memo to his staff. .
“This will be one of the fastest growing areas of our industry over the next ten years,” he added.
RESTRUCTURING AND ACQUISITION
“Today we are announcing two transformative changes in anticipation of the evolution we expect in asset management and capital markets: a strategic restructuring of our organization that will simplify and improve the way we operate and serve clients, and the acquisition of GIP, which will enhance our leadership. in the fast-growing hard asset infrastructure market,” said firm President and CEO Lawrence Fink.
“The combination of BlackRock’s portfolio with GIP will make us the second largest private market infrastructure manager with over $150 billion (€136,956 million) in assets under management,” he added.
In addition, the multinational corporation’s board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $5.10 (€4.66) per share, payable on March 22, 2024 to underlying shareholders at the close of trading on March 7, 2024. This is equivalent to an increase of 2%.