Blackstone Raises $7B For Asian CRE
Blackstone has also agreed to buy Australia’s Investa Office Fund for $2.3 billion.
NEW YORK CITY–Blackstone Group is doubling down, almost literally, on its investment capacity for Asia’s commercial real estate with the final close of its second Asian opportunistic real estate fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia II, reaching its hard cap with approximately $7.1B of capital commitments.
The fund is the largest ever dedicated to real estate investing in Asia, according to Ken Caplan, Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate, who says in a prepared statement that the fund, “gives us flexibility to pursue a range of opportunities and commit capital with speed and scale.”
Its first property fund focused on the Asia region closed in 2014 after raising $5.08 billion.
Separately, Blackstone has also announced that it held its final close on its first Asian private equity fund, Blackstone Capital Partners Asia, reaching its hard cap of approximately $2.3B of capital commitments. Coupled with associated commitments from Blackstone’s global buyout fund, this gives the firm a minimum of $3.8 billion of equity to invest in Asia.
If it weren’t clear enough that Blackstone sees opportunity in the Asian property markets and other asset classes, it has also struck an agreement to acquire the Australian REIT Investa Office Fund for $2.3 billion. And in May Blackstone agreed to buy an office portfolio in Auckland, New Zealand for $439.4 million from joint owners Goodman Property Trust and Singapore’s GIC.