BlackRock seeks 30pc stake in Intesa

LONDON: BlackRock aims to buy a 30 percent stake in Intesa SanPaolo’s asset management unit as it seeks greater influence over Italy’s second-largest fund house, sources familiar with the matter said.BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is in talks with Intesa’s executives and is hoping to secure control of the stake in order to play a bigger role in Eurizon’s operations and its IT management, one of the sources said.

“BlackRock is the natural buyer for Eurizon,” he said. “They will take a stake and use it as a Trojan horse to plug in their IT systems and control the operational side of the business.”

The source said BlackRock sees the deal as a strategic stake acquisition rather than a passive investment. BlackRock and Intesa declined to comment.

Being a leader in technology and integrating its global satellites onto its operating system Aladdin are key priorities for BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.

The company recently pulled out of a joint venture agreement in India because it couldn’t deploy its own technology and much of its Investor Day earlier this month was focused on tech initiatives across its business.