Clockwise from top left: Katie Keenan, Tim Johnson, Michael Eglit, and Michael Wiebolt.
Katie Keenan, Tim Johnson, Michael Wiebolt and Michael Eglit
Global chief operating officer of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies and CEO of Blackstone Mortgage Trust; global head of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies; global head of securities for Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies; and head of U.S. originations for Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies at Blackstone
Last year's rank: 7
Even in a difficult market, Blackstone was still bringing home the, ahem, “BRED” from their office at 345 Park Avenue.
The Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies team racked up $4.6 billion in originations globally in the year ending March 1 — $3.7 billion of which was in the U.S. — and bought $11.8 billion in securities, too. Today, BREDS’s assets under management sit pretty at a whopping $84.2 billion.
“This is an environment that really gives us an opportunity to thrive,” Michael Wiebolt said. “If you think back on the last year, there was a reset where the opportunity set changed. The first place we saw that change was in the public markets — where you had spread volatility and interest rate volatility — which created some great opportunities to deploy capital into that market. Overall, we continued to focus on the things that we think we do best, which is lending or buying assets in high-conviction sectors at spreads that today are more attractive than they have been historically.”
Indeed, instead of fleeing the capital markets’ volatility, the Blackstone team forged ahead, filling voids where competitors retreated and deploying capital into sectors such as data centers, logistics, multifamily and hospitality. During a time when every minute counted, BREDS prided itself on speed and certainty of execution, guiding clients through the ongoing choppiness and helping them to effectuate business plans.
In terms of notable transactions, where to start? The platform made major headlines when it acquired a stake in Signature Bank’s $16.8 billion senior mortgage loan portfolio in December, securing more than 2,600 market-rate multifamily, retail and office loans at a significant discount and — again — providing certainty of execution for the FDIC despite the deal’s compressed time frame. On an individual asset basis, BREDS lent $78 million for Apollo Global Management and Newbond Holdings’ purchase of the Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel.
“In an environment like this, relationships matter, and the ability to continue to be active and open for business, and execute with speed and certainty, matters,” Wiebolt said. “That approach is a cornerstone of our business, and has been from the beginning. It’s true with our clients who are long-standing, and for new clients in new sectors with whom we had more opportunity to engage over the last year or so.”
As 2024 gets off to a good start, Wiebolt is optimistic about his team’s pipeline.
“We’re in a moment where transaction activity is picking up quite a bit, and I think it will continue to pick up in all the different verticals where we’re active,” Wiebolt said. “We’re also in a moment where spreads are still relatively wide compared to their historical run rates, so you have transaction activity in high-quality sectors where risk return looks quite compelling. You put all those things together, and I think it’s going to make for a pretty interesting 2024.”
When it’s not closing deals or practicing clairvoyance for future market trends, Blackstone has also dedicated much time to doing good across its Veteran Hiring Initiative and Refugee Hiring Initiative, the latter of which commits to 2,000 refugee hires across the firm’s portfolio companies.
