BlackRock in $9.5 Billion Secondary Offering of Common Stock

Cleary Gottlieb represented the underwriters, led by BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, in a $9.5 billion secondary offering of BlackRock common stock by Bank of America Corporation and The PNC Financial Services Group, which included a concurrent $400 million direct placement of BlackRock shares by Bank of America to Mizuho Financial Group. The deal, including full exercise of the overallotment option, closed on November 15.

BlackRock is the largest publicly traded investment management firm, with $3.4 trillion of assets under management as of September 30, serving institutional and retail investors in more than 100 countries. Due to BlackRock’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch’s investment management business in 2006, Bank of America owned a 34% economic interest in BlackRock, which was reduced to 7% as a result of the secondary offering.