Blackstone Group LP (BX), the world’s biggest manager of alternative assets, has $1.5 billion of capital commitments for its first Asian property fund, targeted at $4 billion, according to a letter sent to investors.
Blackstone held a first close on the Asia real estate fund on June 7, according to the letter sent yesterday. The New York-based company said it plans to begin investing the money immediately. The firm will focus on China, India, Australia and Japan, a person with knowledge of its plans said in December.
The Asia-Pacific region’s economic growth and decline in property values have attracted private-equity investors. In the U.S., Blackstone has been the biggest buyer of commercial real estate since prices bottomed more than three years ago. The company last year completed the largest-ever private real estate fund, with $13.3 billion of pledges.
There’s “a pretty sharp contrast” in growth in Asia compared with Europe and the U.S., Jonathan Gray, Blackstone’s global head of real estate, said at the firm’s May 3 investor day. “And yet, there’s not a lot of capital.”
Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia is the largest private property fund being raised for the region, followed by the $1 billion Alpha Asia Macro Trends Fund II, according to Preqin, a London-based research firm.
Christine Anderson, a spokeswoman for Blackstone, declined to comment on the fundraising.