BlackRock buying Global Infrastructure Partners for $12.5bn

Investment giant BlackRock announced on Friday it is spending $12.5bn in a cash-and-shares deal to take over Global Infrastructure Partners, a private infrastructure fund manager based in New York.

The deal will be financed by $3bn in cash and 12m shares of BlackRock common stock, currently valued at $792.61 a piece.

GIP currently manages over $100bn in infrastructure equity and debt, and the combined business will hold $150bn in assets – creating the second-largest infrastructure fund manager in the world after Australian group Macquarie.

"Marrying the proprietary origination and business improvement capabilities of GIP and BlackRock’s global corporate and sovereign relationships provides a platform for diversified, large-scale sourcing to support deal flow and co-investment opportunities for clients," BlackRock said in a statement.

Commenting on the deal, BlackRock's chair and chief executive Laurence Fink said infrastructure is "one of the most exciting long-term investment opportunities", and that policymakers were "only just beginning to implement once-in-a-generation financial incentives for new infrastructure technologies and projects".

"Bringing these two firms together will create the infrastructure platform to deliver best-in-class investment opportunities for clients globally, and we couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities ahead of us," he said.

Shares were down 0.3% in pre-market trade at $790.