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☆ Blackstone blocked investor withdrawals from $71 billion REIT in February
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Chibuike Oguh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) - Blackstone Inc (BX.N) said on Wednesday it had blocked investors from cashing out their investments at its $71 billion real estate income trust (BREIT), as the private equity firm continues to grapple with a flurry of redemption requests. BREIT said it fulfilled redemption requests of $1.4 billion in February, which represents only 35% of the approximately $3.9 billion in total withdrawal requests for the month, the firm said in a letter to investors. Total BREIT redemption requests had reached approximately $5.3 billion in January, which is 26% lower than the amount received in February, the firm said. Blackstone expects to continue dealing with investor redemptions because some BREIT investors are making larger withdrawal requests in anticipation of a reduction in its size, its President Jonathan Gray told an earnings call last month. Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Blackstone Inc (BX.N) Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman took home about $1.26 billion in pay and dividends for 2022, a regulatory filing showed. Schwarzman received more than $1 billion in dividends from his Blackstone shares and $253.1 million in compensation, filing showed on Friday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) slashed compensation for CEO David Solomon by 29% to $25 million for 2022, while JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) CEO Jamie Dimon's total compensation was unchanged at $34.5 million. Schwarzman owns about 230 million shares in Blackstone according to a filing from February, and the company paid $4.40 in annual dividend, filings showed. Blackstone ended the quarter with $974.7 billion of total assets under management and declared a quarterly dividend of 91 cents per share.

☆ Blackstone's real-estate business is totally fine, so please stop asking about it
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Blackstone's real-estate business is literally fine, everyone. Yes, the private-equity giant had to limit investors from pulling their money out from the $69 billion Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) in December. And yes, it's also true that Blackstone had to tell investors again on Wednesday that investors were pulling money from BREIT. Murphy, an executive at Standard Investments, serving as Blackstone's new COO of corporate private equity and Heather von Zuben's appointment as COO of Blackstone's credit arm. As much as I enjoy poking fun at Blackstone, Schwarzman and Gray aren't necessarily wrong, to a degree.

☆ Blackstone REIT blocks investor withdrawals in January
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Chibuike Oguh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The fulfilled withdrawal requests also represents 2% of the net asset value of fund, the firm said. Blackstone began exercising its right to block investor withdrawals from BREIT from November last year after it received a deluge of requests that exceeded a preset 5% of the net asset value of the fund. Shares of Blackstone were down 2.4% to $93.59 in early afternoon trading on Wednesday. Last month, Blackstone announced that the University of California would invest $4 billion in BREIT shares after the firm committed $1 billion to backstop the university's returns in the fund. The university later increased its investment by another $500 million, bringing the total value of its BREIT shares to $4.5 billion.

☆ Meet the Blackstone execs taking on new roles across real estate, private equity, and credit as the firm shakes up leadership
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Blackstone is making changes to its real estate, private equity, and credit leadership. Murphy will replace the longtime Blackstone executive Robert Ramsauer, who is leaving the firm after 19 years. It is also shuffling the leadership of its credit business and its real estate business that includes Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, known as BREIT, a high-profile fund for the firm that has recently faced redemption requests. The firm's leadership changes extend to its credit business. von Zuben's shift marks the second leadership change in the credit business, a particularly competitive area for private investment firms, that Blackstone has announced this year.

☆ Blackstone is stepping up evictions of hundreds of tenants across the US as a top exec vows 'cash-flow growth'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's back to business as usual: An exec said he had confidence in the firm's "cash-flow growth." About one-fifth of those holdings are tied up in an investment vehicle known as the Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust, or BREIT. Blackstone's real-estate portfolio is outperforming competitorsThe news of Blackstone's increasing eviction efforts came days after the company announced its fourth-quarter earnings. For example, what Blackstone calls its "opportunistic" real-estate portfolio appreciated by more than 7% during 2022 in one of the most challenging markets in recent memory. The firm's core real-estate portfolio gained more than 10% in value during 2022.

☆ Breit Flows Aren’t the Be-All and End-All for Blackstone
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Telis Demos | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Money swirls around Blackstone . Much of the headline news regarding Blackstone lately has been the much-discussed jump in redemption requests by wealthy individual investors from the nontraded Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, or Breit. But after dropping on that news late last year, Blackstone’s shares have surged back. Its stock is up 26% so far in 2023, including more than 5.5% after its quarterly earnings report on Thursday. A big reason is that base management fees—one of Blackstone’s core ballasts—continue to grow.

☆ Blackstone's earnings fall 41% as assets sales slump
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Chibuike Oguh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Blackstone Inc (BX.N) said on Thursday its fourth quarter distributable earnings fell 41% year-on-year as the world's largest manager of alternative assets cashed out fewer investments across its key portfolios. Distributable earnings, which represents the cash used to pay dividends to shareholders, fell to $1.3 billion from $2.3 billion a year earlier. Blackstone's closely watched fee-related earnings fell 39% to $1.1 billion. Secondary funds fell 1.8% while corporate private equity and private credit funds gained 3.8% and 2.4%, respectively. By contrast, the benchmark S&P 500 index (.SPX) rose 7.08% in the fourth quarter.

☆ JPMorgan upgrades Blackstone, calls it 'best in class'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

JPMorgan Chase upgraded Blackstone to overweight from neutral on Tuesday, calling the money manager "best in class." The call comes on the heels of the recent controversy over Blackstone 's private real estate investment trust. Blackstone shares dropped after news of the redemption limits in December, dropping 8% in five days and ultimately ending 2022 down nearly 43%. "Blackstone remains best-in-class and an intermediate and longer term winner, so it could hold up near-term better than feared," he said. The BREIT structure remains credible and Blackstone will likely launch new retail products to leverage the success of the non-traded structure, he added.

☆ Blackstone is predicting steady growth for its real-estate business, which could be bad news for its tenants
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Now imagine if your landlord wasn't just some mom-and-pop family that owned your building, but the world's largest private-equity firm. And while it's received a fair share of scrutiny over it, the performance of one of its real-estate funds has reignited criticism. But the Blackstone executives' comments indicated the firm could also be planning to raise rent and evict tenants, which includes those in affordable housing and student housing. Click here to read more about how Blackstone's real-estate strategy is setting the stage for an ugly battle with tenants. Top executives at Davos share their thoughts on how bad things might get in 2023.

☆ Blackstone's real-estate strategy, laid out in a leaked transcript, sets the stage for tenant battles over evictions and rising rents
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The major real-estate investor Blackstone is playing defense as tenants scrutinize its policies. This week, tenants addressed Blackstone and an investor, UC Investments, to raise concerns. A transcript of an executive's remarks, obtained by Insider, sheds light on Blackstone's strategy. It is Blackstone, the New York-based investment giant that has become the world's largest real-estate investor. Vik Sawhney, Blackstone's chief administrative officer and global head of institutional client solutions, introduced Meghji, according to the transcript.

☆ 2023 is 'a generational buying opportunity' for real estate investing, says the CEO of a private equity firm. He shares which sectors offer the best returns and the REITs to buy.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

For real estate, he recommends investing in REITs that are managed by major financial firms. The real estate market last year took a massive hit as interest rates increased at an unprecedented velocity due to the Federal Reserve's aggressive tightening. Ari Rastegar, the founder and CEO of Rastegar Property Company, says just looking at macroeconomic trends won't give investors the full picture. Real estate investment trusts, which are entities that own and operate income-producing properties, are on clearance, he said. He recommends looking at the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) and the Starwood Real Estate Income Trust (SREIT).

☆ Blackstone’s Leaky Property Fund Pays for a Thumbs-Up
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Carol Ryan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Blackstone’s flagship property fund got a boost that bosses hope will deter investors from asking for their money back. There is a catch, though: It had to agree to sweeter terms than normal. The New York private-equity firm said on Tuesday that the University of California will buy shares worth $4 billion in BREIT. The nontraded real-estate fund has been receiving more applications from clients asking to take their cash out than it can contractually pay. In December, investors put in redemption requests equivalent to 5.44% of the fund’s total net asset value, above both BREIT’s 2% monthly and 5% quarterly limits.

☆ Blackstone’s Leaky Property Fund Pays for a Thumbs Up
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Carol Ryan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Wall Street's competitive and rigorous internship process could use a facelift
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Wall Street's version of the Hunger Games — nabbing a summer internship at an investment bank — is about to kick off. Thousands of college students are eagerly refreshing investment banks' careers pages awaiting applications to open for internships for the summer of 2024. (Yes, you read that right, this summer's internship spots have already been wrapped up for a while.) It's a process that results in young people making decisions that will set them on a certain path for years to come. Despite a difficult end to the year for the bank thanks to a costly fine, Wells' investment bank was actually among the top 10 advisors in M&A in 2022, Bloomberg reports.

☆ University of California to Invest $4 Billion in Blackstone’s BREIT Real-Estate Vehicle
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Miriam Gottfried | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Blackstone real-estate vehicle aimed at individual investors will get an investment from the University of California. The University of California is putting $4 billion into a Blackstone Inc. real-estate vehicle aimed at individual investors, providing crucial ballast for a fund that has been beset by a wave of redemptions. The investment will come in the form of common equity in Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc., known as BREIT, and will be subject to the same fees and terms the vehicle’s other shareholders get, Blackstone executives said. The typical BREIT investor has the option to sell shares monthly, but University of California manager UC Investments will effectively be committing to hold its shares for six years.

☆ Blackstone's Jon Gray breaks down 'massive' $4 billion BREIT investment from University of California
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBlackstone's Jon Gray breaks down 'massive' $4 billion BREIT investment from University of CaliforniaJon Gray, Blackstone president and COO, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the University of California's investment in Blackstone's real estate fund, why BREIT holders should be happy with the investment and more.

☆ The University of California invested $4 billion with Blackstone to buy up rental apartments and student housing, which they see as the bright spots in the real estate market this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The University of California is investing $4 billion with Blackstone to acquire rentals and student housing. The investment comes at a crucial time for Blackstone's Real Estate Income Trust Inc. fund — also known as BREIT— a $68 billion property investment vehicle. "We consider BREIT to be one of the best positioned, large-scale real estate portfolios in the US, managed by one of the world's top real estate investors," said Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the University of California's chief investment officer. The University of California's investment could become a model for other universities with large endowment funds — typically in the billions of dollars — that want to invest in real estate investment trusts or commercial real estate assets. BREIT's portfolio includes assets in popular college towns such as Fort Collins, Colorado, where Colorado State University is located, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is home to Louisiana State University, according to the fund's website.

☆ Same Building, Different Prices: a Two-Speed Property Market Can’t Last
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Carol Ryan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

If identical side-by-side houses had different asking prices, home buyers would be understandably confused. In recent weeks, private property funds like Blackstone’s nontraded, semiliquid BREIT vehicle have had to explain their jarringly strong performance relative to listed stocks. BREIT has reported returns of 8.4% so far this year, compared with around minus 25% for publicly traded U.S. real-estate investment trusts. The fund was forced to freeze redemptions after a number of clients asked to cash out at its seemingly rosy valuations. Another big nontraded fund, Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, has also closed its gates.

☆ Buyout barons will court the panicking masses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Since they’ve already scoured traditional funding sources like pension funds and insurers, they’ll make a priority of tapping wealthy individuals in 2023. Even those slower to embrace the trend, like Carlyle (CG.O), are getting about 10% of inflows from individuals. Pension plans and other stalwarts have seen their stocks and bonds slump in value, potentially leaving them overexposed to buyout funds, private credit, real estate and infrastructure. These investors don’t always have the resources or stomach to lock up their money for half a decade or longer. Third-party platforms like Moonfare are proliferating, pooling retail capital into vehicles that buy stakes in buyout funds.

☆ Blackstone drops as the SEC looks into real estate fund redemptions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Melissa Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBlackstone drops as the SEC looks into real estate fund redemptionsBX was down another 4% this week as BREIT draws SEC interest. With CNBC's Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders, Tim Seymour, Dan Nathan, Guy Adami and Bonawyn Eison.

☆ The SEC is reaching out to Blackstone and Starwood after the real-estate giants limited investors' withdrawals from their funds, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Alex Nicoll | Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Investors are pulling their money from big real estate funds at a quick pace. Blackstone and Starwood recently limited investors' ability to withdraw. The real estate funds have recently seen a surge in withdrawal requests amid a broad drop in investor sentiment and potential economic downturn. Representatives for the SEC and Starwood did not immediately return requests for comment on Friday. But this year has brought challenges as the real estate market sours and more investors are turning bearish.

☆ Blackstone’s BREIT Highlights Looming Dangers of Private Funds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( James Mackintosh | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust says withdrawals have come primarily from overseas investors, particularly in Asia. Top executives at Blackstone Inc. declared themselves baffled that so many retail investors want their money back from its giant private property fund, given its strong performance. They shouldn’t be surprised. The very design of the fund encourages investors to withdraw when they see others doing so. My worry is, those same incentives could hit other parts of the financial system as central banks pull back from easy money.

☆ Blackstone COO Jon Gray on BREIT redemptions: We knew there would be periods of volatility
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBlackstone COO Jon Gray on BREIT redemptions: We knew there would be periods of volatilityJon Gray, president and COO of Blackstone Group, joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss concerns over the firm's decision to limit redemptions from its Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, or BREIT.

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