Blackstone Eclipses $20B for Flagship PE Fundraise

Blackstone has passed the $20 billion mark for its latest flagship private equity fundraise, shaking off a slowdown in the wider fundraising market caused by macroeconomic factors.

Blackstone Capital Partners will now have eyes on both the $26.2 billion it collected for its predecessor vehicle in 2019, and the current world-record buyout fund from CVC Capital Partners, which closed on $28.4 billion last year.

Jonathan Gray, Blackstone president and COO, said on the firm’s second-quarter earnings call that Blackstone’s purchase of fast-casual cafe franchisor Tropical Smoothe had launched the investment period for Fund IX.

He added that the firm had launched or expected to launch fundraising in the next few quarters for the successors to its $5 billion Life Sciences Fund, $9 billion private credit opportunistic strategy, $22 billion Private Equity Secondaries Fund and $6 billion Private Equity Asia Fund.

“All have strong track records, and we expect the new vintages to be at least as large as and, in most cases, hopefully larger than the current funds,” said Gray. “While the fundraising environment has been challenging, we’re seeing more receptivity from LPs today as markets improve.”