Latin American wealth and institutional investors are increasingly looking for alternative exposure according to Roque Calleja, Head of BlackRock Alternative Specialists (BAS) for Latin America.
In an interview with Funds Society, the specialist mentioned that BlackRock, as a local player across LatAm, has been able to identify this increase in demand from public to private exposure, and that along with his team, they are “uniquely positioned to deliver.”
The alternative space is one of BlackRock’s three focus growth areas, along with the iShares platform and technology. They currently manage aprox $200bn dollars across their global alternative solutions. Over the past few years, BlackRock has been building their alternatives investment platform as well as augmenting their existing credentials with additional capabilities
With the acquisition of eFront from private-equity firm Bridgepoint for $1.3 billion in cash last year, Roque expects that towards the end of 2020, the company will be able to integrate this amazing private market tool with their very much-established Aladdin, setting a new standard in investment and risk management technology, vastly expanding Aladdin’s alternatives capabilities and providing a whole-portfolio technology solution to clients. Their goal is “to be able to look through the entire portfolio, across public and private exposures.” Which will aid them in their endeavor of providing outcome-oriented solutions to clients.
“Our view is that today we are the only investment manager that can provide access to best in class capabilities across both the liquid and illiquid spectrum. Furthermore, we are the only manager that can fully model the total portfolio view to ensure we have clarity about the risks you are taking. We are uniquely positioned to build “Tomorrow’s Alternatives Platform” and be the alternatives provider of choice for our clients.”
In Calleja’s opinion the tilt towards private investments follows investor’s search for “returns and diversifications and specially in LatAm they are looking for income.”
Very diversified across asset classes
Calleja mentions that they have “a very diversified platform across all the different asset classes in alternatives, with the full spectrum of solutions for clients.” In Latin America, he mentions that when clients invest in alternatives, there has been historically a strong bias in private equity “since they are looking for the highest returns. Now however, across wealth and instructional portfolios alternatives are becoming a larger part of the portfolios and clients are looking into more diversified exposures. And with that, there is a huge demand for alternatives in the region, in both liquid and illiquid solutions… We see a lot of demand for private equity, real assets but also for private debt and others. Now you see it across the board, clients looking more holistically to have exposure to alternatives.”
Because of this, BlackRock is looking to democratize the asset class to give better access to clients. “We need to be more creative about how to bring illiquid solutions across the region and we are looking on new strategies for the wealth space, for distributors, family offices etc…”
In his opinion, one of their main differentiators is that, with three people in NYC and one in Peru, they have a dedicated team to cover the asset class in the region and that is “not about pushing product but helping clients in the transition of having a diversified exposure across public and private exposures’
“We give investors new choices and better value as they build alternatives allocations that match their specific needs...” He mentions
“As we are entering a ‘New Era of Alternatives’ deal sourcing is more important than ever – years ago you could have probably worked with any alts provider, but in this era, you want to have access to the widest and deepest global sourcing network that makes alts work for you, and BlackRock is truly different from any other alternatives player.” He concludes.
For Magdalena Martínez
