Blackstone Touts $200B Record Dry Powder

Blackstone raised over $25 billion across 70 strategies in the third quarter, the $1 trillion firm reported to shareholders on Thursday.

Much of the growth has been in the credit sector, which garnered over $10 billion in the third quarter and has witnessed increased investor demand, particularly in real estate credit, which Blackstone predicts will rise substantially over the next decade.

“Our exceptional long-term track record, unique breadth and the power of our brand allowed us to raise over $25 billion of capital, and we are well positioned with record dry powder of $200 billion to deploy in a dislocated environment,” said Blackstone Chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman.

According to Jon Gray, Blackstone president and COO, one area of dry powder is real estate, which, at $66 billion, places the company in an exceptional position. According to Gray, BREIT has outperformed the overall REIT market, and those requesting redemptions have been made whole in six months or less.

Real estate assets climbed 4% to $331.5 billion, with inflows of $9.1 billion in the third quarter and $48.2 billion over the previous year. Inflows included $3.2 billion for the seventh European opportunistic fund, which began investing in September, $724 million in BREIT capital, and $2.3 billion in BREDS insurance SMAs.

Schwarzman added that the firm anticipates a strong but slowing US economy. He also touted the firm’s inclusion last month in the S&P 500 index, making it the first major alternative asset manager to be included in the index.