UPDATE:Norges Bank Boosts BlackRock Stake To 7.5% -Filing

Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway, became the latest to report boosting its stake in BlackRock Inc. (BLK) after Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC) sold a total of $9.57 billion in a BlackRock secondary offer this month.

According to a filing with U.S. regulators Thursday, Norges Bank now owns 9.85 million shares, or 7.5% of BlackRock, one of the world's largest money managers with $3.45 trillion assets under management. The last disclosed stake by Norges was 169,629 shares at the end of 2009, according to data from FactSet.

Norges presumably acquired shares in the secondary offering. The bank's communications adviser Bunny Nooryani declined to comment, saying the fund never comments on individual investments.

Norway's central bank investment unit manages the Norwegian government's global pension fund, previously known as the Oil Fund. The fund was set up in 1990 to safeguard Norway's oil wealth for future generations and has a market value of about $506 billion.

The fund in November made its first property investment, buying a 150-year lease on a 25% stake in the U.K. Crown Estate's portfolio of properties on Regent Street in London.

A rebound in global stock markets helped boost the fund's returns to $350 million in the third quarter, its fifth largest quarterly return ever. It invests roughly 60% of capital in equities, 35%-40% in fixed-income securities and roughly 5% in real estate.

Last week, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (8411.TO) said it bought 3.07 million BlackRock shares for about $500 million, of which 2.45 million shares were from a direct placement with Bank of America, that was separate from the share placement.

Mizuho, Japan's second largest bank by assets, also signed a business cooperation agreement with BlackRock to further promote strategic cooperation between the two firms globally "with particular emphasis on Japan and Asia to more effectively address the investment needs of their respective clients," it said in a statement.

Bank of America, which inherited its BlackRock stake from its takeover of Merrill Lynch at the peak of the financial crisis, sold 51.24 million shares at $163 apiece, while PNC sold 7.5 million shares at the same price. Bank of America owns 7.1% and PNC 20.3% after the sale.

The offering will allow BlackRock to broaden its shareholder base and have more control over its strategic direction.

Australian brokerage Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQBKY) upgraded BlackRock Wednesday to outperform from neutral, saying the asset manager may repurchase its stock, and could become part of the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

BlackRock shares rose 1.2% to $171.00 in recent trading.

-By Amy Or and Anna Molin, Dow Jones Newswires, +1 212 416 3142, amy.or@dowjones.com

--Erik Holm contributed to this article.

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