BlackRock Now Wants to Become Private Equity’s Key Financier

BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, now wants to be a financier for private equity and alternative investment firms.

Fresh off a year of almost $30 billion of deals to become a force in managing private credit, financial data and infrastructure assets, Chief Financial Officer Martin Small is starting to sketch out a plan that goes beyond investing client money to include managing capital for alternatives firms.

“One of the really important things we want to grow is in the private equity space,” Small said Tuesday at the Bank of America Corp. financial-services conference. “We’re starting to think ...