Blackstone Set To Invest Across Europe

The firm has one of the largest pools of uninvested capital, says CEO Stephen Schwarzman

Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of American investment management firm Blackstone, is eyeing investment opportunities as the asset management giant sits on a trove of fresh capital. “We have gone through a big fundraising cycle. So we have over $200 billion dollars. It's one of the biggest pools of uninvested capital in the world, and that will be deployed in due course,” he said on the sidelines of the UK Global Investment Summit.

These funds will be aimed at Europe's real estate, Schwarzman said, as higher rates have put pressure on some owners to sell their properties. The swing in rates overturned a long era of easy money. In some countries rates were even in the negative, but have since risen as high as 6%, Schwarzman noted.

This means property owners need to shed some assets in order to afford costs on their other real estate holdings. “So we are seeing some very, very good buys in that kind of environment,” he said. “Unlike most people, we have enormous capital and can buy the types of real estate that we like — whether they are data centres, warehouses, or student housing, for those sectors have done very well.”

Already, Blackstone has spent $1.03 billion this month for unconstructed housing units from UK homebuilder Vistry, according to reports. It has also reached a $467 million deal on student housing in London and Edinburgh. “The deal business is not totally in mothballs and these things start again,” Schwarzman said. “I think we are more on that side of the cycle, although it has been somewhat dreary for a year.”