Blackstone Pursues Multibillion CRE Fund

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Blackstone is setting its sights on raising $5 billion for its latest real estate debt fund, according to an article by Bloomberg. The new investment vehicle, Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies IV, launches three years after the closing of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies III, which exceeded its target of $4 billion.

Per Bloomberg’s reporting, BREDS IV will pursue property-related wagers in public and private debt around the world, with a particular focus on the U.S. The fund has already attracted the attention of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, which publicly disclosed its contribution of $100 million. IMRF is a repeat investor in the BREDS series, having last committed $100 million to BREDS III in a follow-on investment in December 2015.

Leading the way

Blackstone proves its standing as one of the very top leaders in private real estate funds in the world, practically on a quarterly basis. According to research from Preqin, Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia II was the second-largest private real estate fund to close in the first quarter of 2018, with a total commitment of approximately $7 billion, and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities RI Fund was the fourth-largest to close in the second quarter of 2018 at $1.2 billion. In the first quarter of 2019, Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX and Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe VI stood as the top two largest closed-end private real estate funds in the market, targeting $20 billion and $10 billion, respectively. And most recently, Blackstone completed the $22 billion first close for its Blackstone Capital Partners VIII corporate private equity fund, which the global alternative asset management giant expects to be the largest private equity fund ever raised, said Jonathan Gray, Blackstone president & COO, during the company’s first quarter 2019 earnings investor call on April 18, 2019.