US private equity giant Blackstone has raised $10 bn (EUR 7.7 bn) for its latest global fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII, the follow-up fund to BREP VI, a source familiar with the raising has told PropertyEU.
US private equity giant Blackstone has raised $10 bn (EUR 7.7 bn) for its latest global fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII, the follow-up fund to BREP VI, a source familiar with the raising has told PropertyEU.
The private equity group had targetted a size of $10 bn for the fund. Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII will invest predominantly in the US and Asia, including opportunistic investments such as distressed debt.
The global fund can co-invest up to 20% of its capital in Blackstone's European real estate deals. The fund is expected to conclude its capital raising in February next year.
Blackstone declined to comment.
Blackstone also has a European fund, BREP Europe III, which was raised in 2009 and which is believed to still have around EUR 3 bn of capital to invest. BREP VII is the private equity group's tenth private equity fund. So far, Blackstone has proved to be a dominant player in the distressed real estate scene, including office properties.
Last year, Blackstone invested around EUR 2.6 bn, including leverage, in European real estate deals, making it the second-biggest investor in Europe, according to PropertyEU Research. In December, it was also involved in one of the largest deals of the year when it closed the Project Isobel real estate sub-performing loan deal with RBS.
The £1.36 bn (EUR 1.6 bn) real estate loan deal was backed by £550 mln in stapled debt, bringing to an end the highest profile loan portfolio sale in the past three years. The total equity in the deal was believed to be around £400 mln, with 25% sold to Blackstone for around £100 mln.
As of December 2011, Blackstone had $42.9 bn of real estate assets under management.
