NEW YORK CITY-After closing out 2011 by acquiring a $2 billion loan portfolio from the Royal Bank of Scotland, private-equity giant the Blackstone Group is planning its 2012 strategy. Unnamed sources told Bloomberg that the firm is raising $6 billion of capital for a new commercial real estate property fund that will primarily focus on distressed assets.

The sources, who declined to be indentified due to the private nature of the discussions, says the firm plans to raise approximately $10 billion for the fund, which will be called Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII. The firm named Jonathan Gray as head of global real estate and Chad Pike, a vice chairman of Blackstone Europe, to manage the fund, Bloomberg said.

Last year, Blackstone reigned king as one of the world’s largest CRE investors across several asset classes. The private equity giant completed a $9-billion acquisition of Centro Properties Group’s US portfolio and purchased debt on trophy properties such as 1140 Ave. of the Americas and the Times Square Building at 229 W. 43rd St. in Midtown.