Blackstone (NYSE: BX) has recently announced the launch of a dedicated business unit that will be focused on broadening access to private markets for retirement savers through defined contribution plans. The business division sits within Blackstone’s Private Wealth business. Heather von Zuben was named Global Head of Retirement Solutions. Tom Nides will serve as the unit’s Chairman. Paul Quinlan has been appointed Head of U.S.
The launch builds on Blackstone’s history of supporting individual investors. Blackstone began providing “individuals with access to its investment strategies in 2002 and was the first major alternatives firm to build a dedicated Private Wealth team in 2011.”
Currently, Blackstone says that it manages around $280 billion of assets from the Private Wealth channel, it has a lineup of “perpetual products, and dedicated scale strategies across private equity, real estate, private credit, and private infrastructure.”
The Defined Contribution unit will focus on the significant opportunities that exist in the market via “strategic partnerships, product innovation, and investor education.”
Jon Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone, said that for decades, the world’s biggest and most sophisticated institutional investors benefitted from “the strong returns and diversification of investing in private markets.”
Blackstone is well positioned to be the partner “for retirement solution providers given our brand, track record and broad slate of perpetual products.”
Ms Von Zuben was previously Global Head of Perpetual Capital Solutions for Blackstone Credit & Insurance, “having joined the firm in 2022 after 15 years at Goldman Sachs, where she held a range of roles in business development across alternative investment solutions, most recently as the Global Head of Wealth Management Alternatives.”
Mr Nides joined Blackstone in 2024, previously serving “as United States Ambassador to Israel from 2021 to 2023.” Prior to that, he spent over a decade at Morgan Stanley in various capacities “including Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman.”
Mr Quinlan had joined Blackstone back in 2010 and was most recently Global Chief Financial Officer of Blackstone Real Estate. Prior to joining Blackstone, he worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, “focusing on strategic corporate M&A and private equity investments.”
As covered, Blackstone is the world’s alternative asset manager.
Blackstone seeks to deliver returns for institutional and individual investors by strengthening the companies in which it invests.
Blackstone’s $1.2 trillion in assets under management include global investment strategies that are currently “focused on real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, secondaries and hedge funds.”