Blackstone Raises $30B for New Global Real Estate Fund
By Celia Young April 11, 2023 1:47 pm
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Property giant Blackstone has raised $30.4 billion to invest in real estate worldwide in its largest private equity drawdown fund to date, Blackstone (BX) announced Tuesday.
The fund, dubbed Blackstone Real Estate Partners X (BREP X), out-raised Blackstone’s previous global real estate fund that closed in 2019 by about $10 billion.
BREP X will target logistics, rental housing, lab offices and data center properties as Blackstone Real Estate shifts its focus away from the struggling office and mall sectors and tries to take advantage of the current market, said Ken Caplan, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate.
“We have made some of our best investments in periods characterized by the market volatility and dislocation we see today,” Caplan said in a statement. “Sector selection has never been more critical as we witness the bifurcation of performance within real estate, which is favoring our high-conviction themes.”
Blackstone closed on BREP X as uncertainty about the office market has pushed the value of real estate investment trusts (REITs) down and Blackstone has faced some distress in its office portfolio.
The company unloaded two Southern California office properties this week at a 36 percent discount below what it acquired them for, and its $325 million loan on its Las Vegas office campus hit special servicing last month.
And Blackstone’s own $70 billion REIT has a growing number of investors trying to take their money out.
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust hit its redemption limit for the fifth consecutive month in March as investors looked to reduce their exposure to the real estate market, requesting to pull out $4.5 billion in shares. The REIT let shareholders take $666 million, just 15 percent of what they requested.
Celia Young can be reached at cyoung@commercialobserver.com.
