Blackstone holds $2b initial close for European fund

Blackstone, the largest real estate private equity firm, has held a $2 billion initial close on its core-plus European fund, Blackstone Property Partners Europe, according to the firm’s fourth quarter and full year 2017 results report.

Blackstone Property Partners Europe is a core-plus real estate fund that will invest in properties throughout Europe. It is the first European open-ended, core-plus fund for Blackstone. The firm’s first core-plus vehicle, Blackstone Property Partners, is a U.S.-focused open-ended real estate fund that launched three years ago.

The European fund received its first commitment of €100 million ($118 million) from the $38.6 billion Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.

According to the report, the scale and reach of Blackstone’s real estate global platform resulted in a record $24.5 billion of realizations, a record $19.9 billion capital deployed and $23.8 billion of total assets under management inflows in 2017.

Core-plus funds’ carrying value increased 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter as well and 12 percent for the year. Total assets under management for global core-plus was up 91 percent year-over-year to $27 billion, four years after launching the business, according to the report.

In addition, total assets under management inflows of $10.9 billion during the fourth quarter were driven by Europe core-plus, including the $6 billion Logicor asset management mandate and $2 billion in total assets under management from the initial closing for BPP Europe.

Blackstone has $115 billion of assets under management.