BlackRock makes two MD promotions in wake of departures

BlackRock has reshuffled its secondaries investment team after the departure of three top executives last month.

New York-based Jarid Colucci and Derek Krouner have been promoted to managing director, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Their LinkedIn profiles have been updated to reflect the promotion.

The team will continue to be led by global head of investments for BlackRock Private Equity Partners, Lynn Baranski, according to one of the sources.

Colucci and Krouner joined the newly formed secondaries team at BlackRock in the first half of 2019, following managing directors Steve Lessar and Konnin Tam across from Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Secondaries Investor reported in April that Lessar, Tam and the team’s third MD Veena Isaac were to join Apollo Global Management, just as BlackRock was to return to market with its second secondaries fund.

Fundraising on BlackRock Secondaries & Liquidity Solutions II, which is targeting $4 billion, will go ahead, Secondaries Investor understands.

Debut fund BlackRock Secondaries & Liquidity Solutions raised $2.4 billion; $3 billion including co-investment capital. The fund was targeting $1.5 billion.

Deals the fund has backed include a $334 million multi-asset process involving venture capital firm Inovia Capital and a stapled secondary involving sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Capital.

Colucci and Krouner both featured in the 2018 Young Guns ranking. Colucci was “ingrained” in the development of Goldman’s first real estate secondaries fund, we noted, and worked on deals such as ENFOCA’s $950 million fund restructuring.

Krouner led the execution of “numerous portfolio deals between $500 million and $1 billion for sellers including Asian sovereign wealth funds, large US public pensions and a European corporate pension,” Secondaries Investor noted.

BlackRock did not wish to comment on the promotions.