With $10,000 billion in assets, BlacRrock dominates asset management globally. Larry Fink’s group, which manages the retirement pensions of 35 million Americans, has had a foothold in France for 18 years. Considerable investments have already been made, in CAC 40 shares but also in French SMEs – such as Renner Energies, in solar -, infrastructure and real estate. The French market offers many advantages, says Estelle Castres, head of BlackRock in France.
L’Express: There have been a lot of fantasies in France about BlackRock and its influence on world finance. Concretely, what do you do?
Estelle Castres: BlackRock is a management company. We manage the money of our clients, who are very diverse: institutions such as companies, insurers, pension funds, but also private banks and distributors such as network banks or digital platforms. We do not offer our products directly to individual customers, but always through intermediaries such as distribution networks, for example BoursoBank in France.
Our offer is based on an integrated technological platform which allows us to go beyond the simple provision of a product but also supports our clients in their investment needs, the management of their risks and the construction of their portfolios for the long term. This long vision has allowed us to be innovative and pioneers on many subjects with the constant goal of democratizing financial savings. This is the case, for example, of investment in infrastructure, including renewable ones, for more than ten years. 20 years ago we launched the first gold ETF, and earlier this year, in the US, the bitcoin ETF, as well as dated bond ETFs in Europe [NDLR : les ETF, aussi appelés fonds indiciels cotés, permettent à leur détenteur de suivre à moindre coût l’évolution du cours d’un actif, d’un indice boursier…].
BlackRock is best known for its ETFs, but your scope of action is broader.
Yes, on the stock markets for example, we invest according to the composition of an index to follow its variations, but also, according to our convictions about this or that company – we talk about active management. For example, when we say that BlackRock holds 2.3% of the CAC 40, we must understand that it is the clients who have entrusted their money to BlackRock who hold 2.3% of the Parisian index, whether through of our ETFs or our active management funds. We also invest on behalf of our clients in “private markets”, that is to say directly in unlisted assets – in capital or private debt – such as SMEs, mid-caps, infrastructure, real estate. .
What are your positions in France?
We have been present for 18 years! Our outstandings have increased significantly as a result of the multiplication of the number of our clients and the development of our activities. BlackRock’s teams have grown from 50 in 2018 to 230 today. We manage more than 41 billion euros on behalf of French clients, but the amounts invested by BlackRock in France on behalf of its international clients are almost six times greater, around 232 billion euros. everything combined: large caps, sovereign debt, private equity with stakes in mid-sized companies, corporate debt, infrastructure projects. We plan to continue to invest in the French economy and bring our global expertise locally.
What motivates BlackRock’s interest in our country?
We appreciate the vitality of ecosystems. France had barely three unicorns 7-8 years ago, today there are around thirty. The Tibi initiative [NDLR : plan gouvernemental imaginé par l’économiste Philippe Tibi en vue de mobiliser l’épargne des investisseurs institutionnels notamment en faveur de la tech en France] created real dynamism. The French context is also favorable for our investments in energy infrastructure, solar, wind, “green” heating networks, the deployment of fast electric charging stations… Our customers around the world want to accelerate their investments in the transition energy and we find projects in France to meet this demand.
There are also very good schools, a pool of talent. We manage to find very specialized profiles there, combining technology and expertise in private markets, which is not easy. France is home to three centers of excellence for BlackRock, in private markets, technology and sustainable investing.
The energy transition is one of your preferred investment themes. Today you presented an emblematic operation, that of the company Renner Energies, in the solar industry.
This is a sector where the needs are considerable. According to the BlackRock Investment Institute [NDLR : organe de réflexion du groupe]investment in the global energy system is expected to double to $4 trillion per year by 2050, with low-carbon energy sources accounting for 70% of the total energy mix by that time frame.
In renewable energies, we had historically started to finance projects to develop them and then resell them. Today, we are positioned across the entire value chain, from the launch of the project, to its construction and management. We considered it made sense to invest directly in companies to facilitate the deployment of Renner Energies projects, and this is how we acquired this company through one of our renewable infrastructure funds. This allowed the company to accelerate its development. Until then, it had to resell projects as soon as they were developed to launch others. Now, it is able to carry out more of them, then exploit them by keeping them on its balance sheet. Since our fund’s entry into the capital of Renner Energies, it has diversified from wind power to solar power, it has multiplied the number of its projects by three and its workforce by two. It now has around sixty solar projects under development and around thirty in wind power.
What other sectors interest you?
We invest in sectors influenced by what we call “mega-forces”, these structural trends that are reshaping the global economy, such as artificial intelligence or demographic changes. In private equity, we invest in technology, AI and health in particular. We hold some great unicorns or future unicorns in our portfolios, such as a stake in ContentSquare, a specialist in digital customer experience (websites, chatbot, etc.). In private debt, we finance French Tech companies, such as Brevo, in digital marketing. We are not here to make “coups”, our horizon is 5, 10 years, or even more in infrastructure.
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