Blackstone Group Inc has raised over $5 billion (Rs 37,250 crore) for its second Asia fund and plans to launch a third Asia real estate fund, a senior executive said.
“In Asia, we’ve raised over $5 billion so far for our second private equity vintage and fully expect to hit the $6.4 billion cap, which is nearly 3x the previous fund,” Jon Gray, Blackstone’s chief operating officer and president, said in the firm’s earnings call on Thursday.
Blackstone’s first Asia fund closed at $2.3 billion in 2018. The firm invests in India out of its Asian and global funds.
Blackstone’s second Asia fund, which marked its first close at $3 billion earlier this year, is likely to close by September.
Blackstone has also begun raising its third real estate fund in Asia, Gray said, according to the Blackstone earnings transcript published by Seeking Alpha.
The real estate fund is expected to be larger than the $7 billion fund raised before, he said.
Blackstone’s second Asia real estate fund closed at $7.1 billion in 2018.
Gray said that globally this was the firm’s “most active commitment quarter” as Blackstone had invested $24 billion in the preceding quarter and committed an additional $28 billion to pending deals.
Over the past 12 months, the firm has deployed or committed well over $100 billion, he added.
“We remain focused on our high-conviction thematic areas, such as sustainability, logistics, digital infrastructure, housing and the post-COVID travel recovery,” Gray said.
Blackstone’s most recent bet in India was the acquisition of a controlling stake in Simplilearn earlier this week for $250 million.
“Like many other sectors, technology is disrupting education and education technology has been a high conviction theme for Blackstone in India and globally,” the firm’s Asia head for private equity Amit Dixit said.
Dixit, also the firm’s head in India, was appointed Blackstone’s head of Asia private equity in May this year.
https://www.vccircle.com/blackstone-collects-over-5-bn-for-second-asia-fund-to-raise-third-asia-realty-fund
