With a 20-year history, Preqin is a leading independent data solutions provider in private markets with global coverage of 190,000 funds, 60,000 fund managers and 30,000 private markets investors, reaching more than 200,000 users, including asset managers, insurers, pensions, wealth managers, banks, and other service providers. Preqin empowers investors to make better decisions by providing data and insights that increase transparency and access across the global alternatives market.

The acquisition adds a data business to BlackRock’s investment technology, marking a strategic expansion into the fast-growing private markets data segment.

Private markets are the fastest growing segment of asset management, with alternative assets expected to reach nearly $40tn by the end of the decade. There is an even greater need for standardized data, benchmarks, and analytics that enable investors to incorporate private asset classes into their portfolios more effectively and provide fund managers with better data and tools to deliver outcomes for their clients. Private markets data is estimated to be an $8bn total addressable market and is expected to reach $18bn by 2030 growing at 12% per year. Macfarlanes represents a unique offering within this market, advising on all aspects of our clients’ private capital needs.

The transaction is expected to close on or before year-end 2024, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

The Macfarlanes team was led by corporate and M&A partners Howard Corney, Alex Edmondson and Tim Redman with assistance from senior counsel Lauren Bretton, senior associate Luis Soares de Sousa and associates Ollie Morris and Beth Hitchcock. Competition advice was provided by partner Malcolm Walton and senior associate Charlie Critchley. Tax and reward advice was provided by partners Jeremy Moncrieff and Rasmus Berglund, senior counsel Alex Ereira and associate Elena Scaglione. Advice on the financing elements was provided by partner Kirstie Hutchinson and associate Natasha Ahmed.

Christoph Knaack, CEO of Preqin commented: “Private markets continue to evolve and so is Preqin. We are grateful to Macfarlanes for their truly instrumental guidance in this landmark transaction to support the next phase of our growth, without which we would not have been able to achieve this fantastic result for our stakeholders.”