Empower, one of the largest retirement plan providers in the United States, has added Blackstone to its growing lineup of private market investment providers, marking another step in the expansion of alternative assets into mainstream retirement portfolios.
The move is being facilitated through a partnership with Clearstream, the post-trade services provider owned by Deutsche Börse, which is helping to connect asset managers such as Blackstone with large defined-contribution platforms. The arrangement is designed to simplify access, administration and reporting for private market investments that have traditionally been difficult to integrate into retirement plans.
By bringing Blackstone onto its platform, Empower is giving eligible retirement savers exposure to private equity, private credit and other alternative strategies that were previously reserved for institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. The company says the initiative is part of a broader effort to diversify long-term retirement portfolios beyond public stocks and bonds, particularly as market volatility and inflation risks persist.
Private markets have attracted growing interest from pension funds and asset managers globally, driven by the search for higher returns, income generation and diversification. Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, oversees more than $1 trillion in assets and has been actively pushing to expand access to its products through partnerships with wealth managers and retirement platforms.
Clearstream’s role is central to making this access operationally viable. The firm provides infrastructure that helps standardise subscriptions, valuations, custody and reporting for private assets, addressing one of the key barriers that has kept alternatives out of defined-contribution plans. Industry analysts say such platforms are critical if private markets are to scale within retirement systems without increasing complexity or risk for plan sponsors.
The development also reflects a broader shift in the US retirement landscape, where providers are under pressure to offer more sophisticated investment options as workers shoulder more responsibility for their own retirement outcomes. While regulators continue to stress the importance of transparency, liquidity management and investor education, momentum has been building behind carefully structured private market exposure in long-term savings plans.
Empower has not disclosed the size or specific structure of the Blackstone offerings that will be made available, but the company indicated that access would be phased and targeted, with a focus on suitability and fiduciary oversight. Blackstone, for its part, has argued that long-term retirement capital is well matched to private investments, which often require patience and extended holding periods.
As large retirement platforms, asset managers and infrastructure providers deepen collaboration, the line between institutional and retail access to private markets continues to blur.
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