BlackRock Completes Acquisition of Credit Firm HPS Investment Partners
BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK) and HPS Investment Partners announced the successful completion of BlackRock’s acquisition of HPS. The HPS business will now be known as HPS, a part of BlackRock.
According to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with $11.6 trillion in assets, private credit is reshaping financial markets and the structural trends supporting its growth have accelerated the convergence of public and private markets. Financing activity is being shifted toward the capital markets, positioning asset managers to match long-dated capital with long-term investors, including insurance companies, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, wealth managers, and individuals saving for retirement.
In December of last year, BlackRock announced it as to acquire HPS Investment Partners in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $12 billion. HPS, a New York-based private credit manager, at the time said it was overseeing approximately $148 billion in client assets.
HPS sponsors non-listed business development company HPS Corporate Lending Fund, and provides customized financing solutions to businesses, including high-yield loans and asset-based finance.
With the addition of HPS, BlackRock said it is positioned to more fully meet the accelerating client demands resulting from this shift, providing clients and borrowers access to integrated, best-in-class solutions at scale. Operating alongside BlackRock’s $3 trillion public fixed income franchise, which includes the Fundamental Fixed Income business, led by Rick Rieder, as well as the Financial Institutions Group, led by Peter Gailliot, the addition of HPS’s capabilities into a combined platform is projected to allow BlackRock to stay ahead of market evolution and client needs, as they increasingly look past traditional distinctions of “public” and “private” in accessing credit markets.
To fully capture the opportunities created by this combination, BlackRock is creating Private Financing Solutions, or PFS, which will combine the firms’ private credit, general partner and limited partnership solutions, and private and liquid collateralized loan obligation businesses into one integrated platform. Together, PFS will advance BlackRock’s ability to create a more seamless experience for investors and borrowers, while offering a platform equipped to identify and execute on a broad array of opportunities created by this market evolution.
The combined PFS team will be led by Scott Kapnick, Scot French, and Michael Patterson. HPS’s flagship strategies, including HPS Strategic Investment Partners, HPS Specialty Loan Fund, HPS Core Senior Lending Fund, the aforementioned HPS Corporate Lending Fund, and other investment strategies which will maintain their HPS branding.
“We are thrilled to join BlackRock and lift the HPS success story to a new level. Current opportunities in the private credit markets are enormous and successfully navigating them will require entrepreneurial drive, disciplined risk management, global reach and a powerful platform to originate the most compelling transactions. BlackRock Private Financing Solutions will deliver all these success factors to our clients, investors, shareholders and employees,” said Scott Kapnick, chief executive officer of HPS.
Core to PFS, according to BlackRock, will be an integrated private credit franchise with $190 billion in client assets and a platform to provide both public and private income solutions for clients.
Aligning BlackRock and HPS’s existing GP/LP businesses within the PFS structure will allow the firm to deepen relationships with sponsors and investors, delivering bespoke solutions across the platform, and partnering to resolve their most pressing needs.
“BlackRock has always looked at the full breadth of our clients’ needs in everything we do. Through this combination, we are more strongly positioned to serve our clients, globally and locally, through our one BlackRock culture, with solutions that seamlessly blend public and private,” said Laurence D. Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock. “The creation of PFS means that we can answer far more client needs with far fewer calls, creating a comprehensive solutions provider for clients and borrowers alike. We are excited to realize the potential of this platform and thrilled to have Scott, Scot, Mike and the talented HPS team join us on this journey.”
Kapnick will also be an observer to the BlackRock board of directors.
HPS Investment Partners, a global credit-focused alternative investment firm that seeks to provide creative capital solutions and generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our clients reported approximately $157 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2025.
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