As per people familiar with the matter, BlackRock Inc., the world's largest asset manager, is set to join forces with India's largest company, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), marking the company's return to the country after leaving in 2018. The US-based investment firm announced a 50:50 joint venture with Jio Financial Services (JFS) to establish an asset management business late on July 26.
JFS is Mukesh Ambani's flagship's recently spun-off fintech arm. BlackRock manages approximately $11 trillion in assets, or 7% of all global financial assets.
After parting ways with long-time partner Hemendra Kothari of DSP, Wall Street's green crusader Larry Fink, chairman of Blackrock, will make an India comeback.
Jio Blackrock will be the name of the joint venture, and it will begin operations after regulatory and statutory approvals. The business will be run by its own management team.
According to people familiar with the situation, both parties have agreed to invest $150 million each to launch the venture and expand it in the future. BlackRock's digital platform Aladdin—the Asset, Liability, Debt, and Derivative Investment Network—fits into Ambani's plan to disrupt the Indian financial markets with data and technology. According to the people cited above, top executives from both companies have met to finalise the alliance's broad structure.