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BlackRock Just Wasn't Big Enough for Larry Fink
Excerpt from the InvestorGuide.com Stock of the Day on 6/12/2009

For about 10 years after he founded the asset-management firm BlackRock, Larry Fink was not a fan of mergers claiming that they don't work most of the time. Well, it's fair to say that he has come around on that a little bit. Fink took BlackRock from being a respected, decent-sized name in the asset management world to a major presence with about $1.3 trillion under management via deals in the mid-part of the decade with the likes of MetLife (MET: Charts, News, Offers) and Merrill Lynch. But yesterday, Fink took things to a new stratospheric level by buying Barclays' (BARC: Charts, News, Offers) asset management division for $13.5 billion. This creates the largest money-management business on the planet with a balance sheet bigger than the Federal Reserve's. Will Fink be able to manage this thing?

BlackRock started off as a fixed income money manager, as Fink was one of the pioneers of the mortgage-backed securities model. Then the firm expanded into equities by buying Merrill's investment management business in 2005 for about $9 billion and now BlackRock has just made itself the biggest player in the world of index investing and passively managed funds by buying Barclays' Global Investors (BGI) unit for $13.5 billion ($6.6 billion will be in cash and the rest in stock). Barclays was looking to sell off its well-known iShares ETF business in order to raise cash and stay away from having to borrow money from the British government. It reached a deal to sell iShares for $4.3 billion to CVC Capital Partners but then BlackRock swooped in and decided to buy the entire unit that housed iShares. Prior to the deal, BlackRock had about $1.3 trillion under management (most of it is actively managed) and now it is putting that together with the $1.5 trillion at BGI, which takes the combined balance sheet well above that of the Fed which is at $2.03 trillion. More >


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BlackRock Opportunity Catches Merrill Lynch's Eye
Excerpt from the InvestorGuide.com Stock of the Day on 2/13/2006

Love is in the air, but not the metaphysical, ineffable feeling of affection sort of love. We're talking financial love. Shares of BlackRock Financial - an investment management company – soared early Monday on news that financial giant Merrill Lynch (MER: Charts, News, Offers) had its eye on a deal that would make BlackRock one of Wall Street's largest money management firms. Of course, Merrill would reap some benefits (a 49% stake in BlackRock), but it's nicer to think that the CEOs of both companies just had a thing for that feeling of togetherness. What does this deal mean, and how will former courter JP Morgan (JPM: Charts, News, Offers) react to this little triangle d'amour? More >

BlackRock (BLK) Upgrades

Date
Analyst
Old Rating
New Rating
09/23/2009
Deutsche Bank
Hold
Buy
07/22/2009
Stifel Nicolaus
Hold
Buy
03/04/2009
Buckingham Research
Sell
Neutral
01/05/2009
Fox-Pitt Kelton
Underperform
In Line
12/18/2008
Morgan Stanley
Equalweight
Overweight
10/23/2008
Credit Suisse
Underperform
Neutral

BlackRock (BLK) Downgrades

Date
Analyst
Old Rating
New Rating
08/25/2009
Pali Research
Buy
Neutral
02/12/2009
Buckingham Research
Neutral
Underperform
04/11/2008
Goldman Sachs
Buy
Neutral citing valuation
04/11/2008
Wachovia
Outperform
Market Perform
09/19/2006
A.G. Edwards
Hold
Buy
02/17/2006
Morgan Stanley
Underweight
Equal-Weight

BlackRock (BLK) New Coverage

Date
Analyst
Rating
05/08/2009
Pali Research
Neutral
01/14/2009
Barclays Capital
Overweight
12/16/2008
UBS
Neutral
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