BlackRock CEO and founder, Larry Fink, informed Argentine President Javier Milei during a virtual meeting that he would be visiting Argentina in May. The news was later confirmed by Casa Rosada Spokesman Manuel Adorni in Buenos Aires. Milei stated on his X account that his conversation with Fink was a “total success.” Gerardo Werthein, Argentina’s Ambassador to the United States, also participated in the meeting.
Fink’s investment fund is believed to have assets worth over US$ 8.6 trillion worldwide. Although BlackRock invests in a wide variety of assets, it places about a tenth of the assets it manages in equities. Fink, who openly supports the Democratic Party in the United States and is regarded as one of the most powerful men in the world, is the 71-year-old son of a small shoe store owner in Los Angeles and a university professor. He made his debut in the stock market at the age of 13 by purchasing his first shares in the chemical company DuPont with the money he had earned working in the family business.
Fink completed his MBA in the 1970s and joined the investment bank First Boston in the 1980s, where he worked until 1988 when BlackRock was founded with partner Robert Kapito to manage the personal savings of middle-class investors. Fink and Kapito both worked at First Boston, Credit Suisse, and other leading financial firms on Wall Street and in Europe.
Today, BlackRock continues to manage the money of more than 35 million Americans and has offices in the world’s major financial centers, including London, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Milan, Dubai, Moscow, Mexico City, and São Paulo. It also has a strong presence in Argentina, either through its holdings in multinationals that operate locally, such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Bayer, or Telefónica, or with the shares it bought in Argentine companies such as Mercado Libre, Tenaris, Grupo Galicia, Banco Macro, Telecom, Pampa Energía, TGN, Arcos Dorados (McDonald’s), and Adecoagro.
Fink, who told Milei that it would “take a long time for investment to return to Argentina” after his 2020 assessment of the country, expressed “his interest in evaluating in situ investment opportunities in infrastructure in the country, which augurs a boost to national economic development,” according to a statement issued by the Argentine government. In a separate press release, the company noted that “BlackRock’s Chairman and CEO, Larry Fink, and the President of Argentina had a constructive conversation about the potential for long-term infrastructure investment opportunities in Argentina.” Fink would also be “exploring a trip to Argentina to discuss potential infrastructure investments for our clients along with local investors,” it added.
Fink’s last visit as BlackRock’s top representative to Argentina took place in 2016, in times of then-President Mauricio Macri to discuss real estate undertakings. Then, the fund became one of Argentina’s largest creditors together with PIMCO and Franklin Templeton leading up to the exchange rate crisis that led Macri to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2018.
BlackRock is ranked 184th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest US corporations by revenue and Fink is considered one of America’s most powerful billionaires. His words and decisions have a direct impact on the stability of markets, economies, and people’s lives. After the 2008 global crisis initiated by mortgage-backed securities, in which these funds were part of the problem, the US government began to further regulate traditional banking but gave more leeway to these institutions.