Buoyant markets and $205 billion in new client money helped BlackRock break the $13 trillion mark in assets under management for the first time.

The world’s biggest asset manager ended the third quarter with $13.46 trillion in assets under management, up 17 per cent from $11.48 trillion a year ago. Its shares closed up $39.40, or 3.1 per cent, at $1,194.52 in New York.

The company reported net flows of $205 billion, led by continued strength in its exchange-traded fund business, which remains the firm’s key driver of organic growth and broke $5 trillion in assets under management for the first time.

BlackRock said that its private market business, which generates significantly higher fees than exchange-traded funds, drew in $13.2 billion in net inflows in the quarter, including $7.9 billion from its private credit business. It brought its total assets under management to $321 billion at the end of September, generating $951 million in fees in the quarter.

It follows an almost $30 billion acquisition spree by the company in recent years, in which it bought the private investment managers Global Infrastructure Partners and HPS Investment Partners, as well as Preqin, the UK-based private markets data group.

Total revenue, the majority of which is earned as a percentage of assets under management, rose to $6.5 billion from $5.2 billion a year ago, driven mainly by the market rally and growth in its base fee, a proxy for what BlackRock collects from fund investors excluding the impact of market moves.

The asset manager reported a 10 per cent year-on-year increase in organic base fee growth, ahead of the long-term growth target set by Larry Fink, the company’s chief executive.

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Equity product inflow declined to $46 billion, compared with $74 billion a year ago, while fixed-income products recorded inflows of $47.5 billion in the quarter.

The company also reported $34 billion in net flows into the cash management strategies that BlackRock offers, as well as $17 billion into digital assets. The company’s iShares crypto fund has quickly grown to almost $100 billion in assets under management since it was launched roughly two years ago.