Blackstone saw assets under management in its real estate division jump by almost a third during the past quarter, a period during which the private equity giant held a final close for the world’s largest property fund and struck the biggest property deal on record.
The firm said real estate AUM stood at $157.1bn as of 30 September, a rise of 31% on the third quarter of 2018.
Acquisitions included the $18.7bn purchase of a logistics portfolio from GLP, the largest private real estate deal on record. Blackstone also made $4.6bn-worth of disposals during the three months, including a sale of shares in rental homes provider Invitation Homes.
The firm also closed its BREP IX fund, which at $20.5bn is the largest real estate fund ever.
Earnings in the real estate segment stood at $1.2bn for the last 12 months, the firm said, the largest contribution to group earnings over that period.
At group level, the firm posted quarterly revenues of $1.7bn, down from $1.9bn a year earlier. Profits were just shy of $780m, a rise from $442 in the third quarter of 2018. Total AUM reached $554bn, a fifth higher than a year ago and another record for the firm.
Chairman and chief executive Stephen Schwarzman said that in a “challenging environment” the firm had demonstrated an “ability to execute on scale investment opportunities across a broad array of strategies”.
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