BlackRock is making key leadership changes and combining some teams internally, according to a memo to employees from CEO Larry Fink and President Rob Kapito. The changes follow several major private market-linked acquisitions at BlackRock in the past year: Global Infrastructure Partners,

Mark Wiedman was most recently head of BlackRock’s global client business

Asset manager BlackRock's senior executive Mark Wiedman, who was touted to be a potential successor to CEO Larry Fink, is departing the firm, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing four people close to the company.

BlackRock ( BLK) shares rose 4% Wednesday morning as the asset manager posted better-than-expected quarterly results on record assets under management (AUM).

BlackRock's quarterly results complete a banner year for the asset manager, which has sought to strengthen its position in rapidly growing private markets. It spent about $25 billion last year on infrastructure investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners and private credit business HPS Investment Partners.

BlackRock said in its fourth-quarter earnings report Wednesday that assets under management jumped to a record $11.55 trillion, up from $10 trillion a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected BlackRock to report a record $11.