Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced the final close of its latest
global real estate fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII (“BREP
VIII”), at $15.8 billion. Blackstone currently manages two regional
opportunistic real estate funds, the $8.2 billion Blackstone Real Estate
Partners Europe IV and the $5 billion Blackstone Real Estate Partners
Asia.
Jon Gray, Blackstone’s global head of real estate, said, “We are
grateful to our limited partners for their continued support, and remain
committed to delivering favorable returns. The size of this fund gives
us the ability to commit capital in scale with speed and certainty.”
Added Kathleen McCarthy, the global chief operating officer of
Blackstone’s real estate group, “This fundraise reflects the strong
relationship we’ve had with our limited partners for more than two
decades. The fund is already 20% committed and we continue to see
compelling opportunities to deploy capital.”
Among the fund’s initial investments are the purchase of significant
real estate assets from General Electric Capital Corporation, and the
announced agreement to acquire Strategic Hotels, a publicly traded real
estate investment trust.
Substantially all of the capital in the fund comes from investors that
had previously participated in Blackstone’s real estate funds. These
investors are both from the US and around the world.
About Blackstone Real Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s
real estate business was founded in 1991 and has approximately $92
billion in investor capital under management. Blackstone’s real estate
portfolio includes hotel, office, retail, industrial and residential
properties in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Major investments
include Hilton Worldwide, Invitation Homes (single family homes),
Logicor (pan-European logistics), SCP (Chinese shopping malls), and
prime office buildings in the world’s major cities. Blackstone real
estate also operates one of the leading real estate finance platforms,
including management of the publicly traded Blackstone Mortgage Trust.
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