The manager accelerates growth in Spain through third party alliances, mandates and new business lines.
The largest manager in the world, the only one with more ten billion dollars in assets under management, is experiencing one of the key moments in its history.
A few months after the completion of the GIP purchase transaction, which will also lead BlackRock to alternative assets, an investment fund giant led by Larry Fink meets 30 years of presence
The largest manager in the world, the only one with more ten billion dollars in assets under management, is experiencing one of the key moments in its history.
A few months after the completion of the GIP purchase transaction, which will also lead BlackRock to alternative assets, an investment fund giant led by Larry Fink meets 30 years of presence in Spain.
During this time, the manager has changed a lot. It has expanded its offering and diversified its business model with new lines of business, new alliances and several third-party mandates. From its headquarters in Madrid, where BlackRock employs 40 professionals, it conducts its business in Spain, Portugal and Andorra.
Louis Megias (Madrid, 1972) Since October last year he has been in charge of the subsidiary of the American firm in Spain, which is the fourth largest fund manager in the national market, behind only CaixaBank AM, Santander AM and BBVA AM, with 43.6 billion euros in resources. In addition, BlackRock has a stake in large Ibex 35 companies, in many cases being a major shareholder.
BlackRock is the first private investor in the Spanish stock market. How much does it cost to invest in national companies?
In the Spanish economy, between fixed and variable income, BlackRock’s investment amounts to around 60 billion euros. Approximately 33 billion of this is invested in listed Spanish companies. We invest in all of them on a long-term and sustainable basis, accompanying them in their development and expansion. In addition, about 26,000 are investments in fixed income: 12,000 million in private corporate debt issued by Spanish companies and another 14,000 million in Spanish government debt. And to this we must add about 1 billion euros that we have in unlisted assets.
How exactly does BlackRock’s influence on companies play out as an investor?
We are long-term investors in the company and our goal is to be opportunistic in any case. And we’re increasingly taking stronger engagement actions, which we call stewardship. We believe that well-governed companies are better equipped to manage risks and opportunities and will achieve better results over the long term. That’s why we pay a lot of attention to the whole part of the internal governance of companies: how boards of directors are formed, their real independence so that they can vote, diversity, remuneration policies, alignment of interests within the company. We know all this very well. We are trustees. We invest on behalf of our clients and bear this responsibility to them. We maintain an ongoing dialogue with the companies in which we invest and ensure our voices are heard through voting at shareholder meetings. More than 70 people around the world are dedicated exclusively to monitoring the companies in which we invest. In 2023, we held 4,000 meetings worldwide with more than 2,600 companies and participated in more than 170,000 votes worldwide.
Have you had any meetings with Spanish companies lately?
Last year the management team held 38 meetings with 18 Spanish companies. We express our opinions, but we never try to direct strategy or tell the company we invest in how it should operate. Managers are the ones who strategize and run companies. In fact, they are one of the reasons we invested in this company. We trust them, and they are the ones who lead. The decision is always yours, we do not interfere.
In parallel with increased investment in Spanish companies, BlackRock’s business in the country continues to grow…
We have €43.6 billion between distributed investment funds, ETFs and alternatives. If we take into account the portion of mandates and advice, this figure rises to 58 billion. BlackRock’s behavior differs from that of the sector. Last year, a group of international managers experienced an outflow of money. We have collected 3000 million net.
It seems that BlackRock is now growing in Spain more through mandates than through product marketing…
We see this movement not only in Spain, but also at the European level. When it comes to managing and offering investment products, there has been a shift in model from selling products to offering portfolios and services, there has been a lot of common sense thinking. A manager cannot be an expert in all asset classes. You can’t be the best at everything, so look for help in classes where you can add value to your client by outsourcing it.
In recent years they have signed several alliances: with CaixaBank, which will take responsibility for all their investment projects, with Bestinver, which deals with direct investments… Are they working on similar operations?
Every week we communicate with all our clients in Spain and are happy to hear proposals for cooperation. Everyone asks us about real estate, private debt, infrastructure… Everything about alternatives in general.
It seems BlackRock is more active than ever in seeking alliances in Spain…
In reality, the opposite happened. It’s not BlackRock looking for new alliances. We respond to our clients’ requests. We have management capabilities across all asset classes. And I think that’s the main differentiator for BlackRock: the value proposition is unique. Very few management companies can offer this to a client. This year we also want to improve our Aladdin technology platform.
BlackRock has also been exploring new business areas in the country in recent years. Last year they launched a real estate department…
Since 2023, we have a dedicated local property investment team. We have a team of three in Madrid that is part of the European team. Spain is where important investment opportunities arise in the world of real estate. And one of the ways our clients can take advantage of those opportunities is by having local teams that are much closer to those opportunities.
