Key Takeaways
- • Empower, the second-largest U.S. retirement plan provider, has added Blackstone—the world's largest alternative asset manager with $1.2 trillion in AUM—to its private markets investment partnership program launched in May 2025.
- • Blackstone joins eight initial partners (Apollo Global Management, Partner Group, Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton, Neuberger Berman, PIMCO, Sagard, and North Leaf) in offering private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure investments to DC plan participants through managed accounts and collective investment trusts.
- • The expansion aligns with the Trump administration's policy push to broaden private market access in defined contribution plans, addressing a structural gap in retail retirement investor access to alternative assets.
- • Private market investments are accessed through managed accounts rather than standard 401(k) investment menus, enabling risk-appropriate portfolio construction for individual savers previously excluded from these strategies.
- • Blackstone established a dedicated business unit for DC plan sponsors in October 2025, positioning the firm to scale institutional-quality private market products to millions of American retirement savers.
Summary
Empower has expanded its private markets investment partnership program by adding Blackstone, the world's largest alternative asset manager with over $1.2 trillion in assets under management. The partnership represents a significant consolidation of alternative asset distribution within the U.S. retirement plan ecosystem and reflects broader regulatory momentum to democratize private market access for individual investors.
Blackstone joins a cohort of eight established partners announced when Empower launched the program in May 2025. The initial roster included Apollo Global Management, Partner Group, Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton, Neuberger Berman, PIMCO, Sagard, and North Leaf—collectively representing dominant positions across private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure. Blackstone's product suite, encompassing private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure offerings, directly complements this existing platform architecture. The firm launched a dedicated business unit focused on defined contribution plan sponsors in October 2025, positioning it to scale institutional-grade alternative strategies to retail retirement participants at meaningful volume.
The structural delivery mechanism—managed accounts and collective investment trusts rather than general 401(k) investment menus—allows plan fiduciaries to construct risk-appropriate allocations while maintaining compliance flexibility. This architecture addresses the historical constraint that prevented retail investors from accessing these return and diversification benefits available to institutional investors.
Edmund F. Murphy III, Empower's CEO and President, characterized the initiative as bringing "the power of private markets investing—delivered through advice and risk-appropriate structures—to millions of Americans who previously lacked access." Heather von Zuben, Blackstone's global head of retirement solutions, framed the expansion as "an important evolution" enabling individual investors to benefit from "enhanced returns and diversification" during wealth accumulation phases.
The timing reflects the Trump administration's explicit policy agenda to expand private market accessibility within DC plans, a regulatory environment that has accelerated capital deployment pipelines among alternative asset managers seeking distributed channels to retail capital. For institutional investors and family offices monitoring DC plan innovation, this consolidation signals accelerating institutionalization of retail retirement portfolios.
Blackstone joins a cohort of eight established partners announced when Empower launched the program in May 2025. The initial roster included Apollo Global Management, Partner Group, Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton, Neuberger Berman, PIMCO, Sagard, and North Leaf—collectively representing dominant positions across private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure. Blackstone's product suite, encompassing private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure offerings, directly complements this existing platform architecture. The firm launched a dedicated business unit focused on defined contribution plan sponsors in October 2025, positioning it to scale institutional-grade alternative strategies to retail retirement participants at meaningful volume.
The structural delivery mechanism—managed accounts and collective investment trusts rather than general 401(k) investment menus—allows plan fiduciaries to construct risk-appropriate allocations while maintaining compliance flexibility. This architecture addresses the historical constraint that prevented retail investors from accessing these return and diversification benefits available to institutional investors.
Edmund F. Murphy III, Empower's CEO and President, characterized the initiative as bringing "the power of private markets investing—delivered through advice and risk-appropriate structures—to millions of Americans who previously lacked access." Heather von Zuben, Blackstone's global head of retirement solutions, framed the expansion as "an important evolution" enabling individual investors to benefit from "enhanced returns and diversification" during wealth accumulation phases.
The timing reflects the Trump administration's explicit policy agenda to expand private market accessibility within DC plans, a regulatory environment that has accelerated capital deployment pipelines among alternative asset managers seeking distributed channels to retail capital. For institutional investors and family offices monitoring DC plan innovation, this consolidation signals accelerating institutionalization of retail retirement portfolios.
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