BlackRock Is Preparing to Open a Sales Office in Argentina

(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. is taking steps to establish a sales presence in Argentina.

The world’s largest asset manager is preparing to open a small sales office in Buenos Aires, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The office would begin by focusing on selling the company’s iShares products. It already has offices in Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Santiago, Chile, and Bogota, Colombia.

BlackRock, with about $6.3 trillion in assets, is pushing into fast-growing markets outside the U.S. It hired Francisco Rosemberg earlier this year to head the wealth business in Argentina and Uruguay, based out of Santiago. Rosemberg was formerly head of the wealth client business for Schroders Plc in South America, excluding Brazil. BlackRock started an Argentina-focused exchange traded fund, iShares MSCI Argentina Global Exposure, in 2017, which has about $36 million in assets.

A representative for BlackRock declined to immediately comment.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri is seeking to boost foreign investment to jumpstart growth after taking market-friendly measures including lifting capital controls. Firms including Itau Unibanco Holding SA and UBS Group AG have considered expanding or opening wealth-management businesses there after Argentines declared $117 billion in offshore funds in a tax-amnesty program. Congress also passed a law this year to allow onshore private banking advising on assets held abroad.

--With assistance from Annie Massa.

To contact the reporters on this story: Carolina Millan in Buenos Aires at cmillanronch@bloomberg.net;Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Courtney Dentch at cdentch1@bloomberg.net, ;Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Alan Mirabella, Andres R. Martinez

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