(Reuters) - The world’s largest asset manager BlackRock Inc said on Monday it will buy Aperio Group LLC, an investment management services provider, from private equity firm Golden Gate Capital and Aperio employees for $1.05 billion in cash. BlackRock said the deal will boost its separately managed account (SMA) assets by roughly 30% to over $160 billion. The asset manager said the deal will be funded by existing corporate liquidity and is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2021. It added that the deal is minimally dilutive to its earnings per share and is not expected to be dilutive on a cash basis. BlackRock plans to operate Aperio as a separately branded, vertically integrated team within the company’s U.S. Wealth Advisory business. Sausalito, California-based Aperio partners with wealth advisers to build and manage personalized public equity portfolios, among other things.