The fund products of American private equity giant Blackstone have also begun to retail to retail investors.
At the beginning of this year, Blackstone submitted documents to regulatory authorities showing that its fund product, Blackstone Private Equity Strategies Fund L.P. (hereinafter referred to as BXPE), was launched specifically for sales to some high net worth "retail investors", with an initial fundraising scale of nearly 10 billion yuan.
Blackstone launches new products to "retail investors"
On January 8, 2024, Blackstone submitted a document to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stating that the fund product BXPE launched by Blackstone is specifically targeted at high net worth individuals with an investment threshold of $5 million. At present, the initial fundraising scale of the fund product has reached approximately 1.3 billion US dollars (1.27 billion US dollars), equivalent to approximately 9.3 billion Chinese yuan.
SEC documents show that the investment of this fund product involves multiple industries, including digital infrastructure, technology, commercial services, financial services, aerospace, and defense.
It is reported that BXPE is the first new fund under Blackstone to target high net worth individuals. Blackstone will charge a management fee of 1.25% and a performance reward of 12.5%, and the annual return rate of the fund product is 5%.
What is the uniqueness of BXPE? Last year, Jon Gray, the President of Blackstone Group, told Wall Street analysts that BXPE's investment scope is different from the threshold and scope of some products sold by other companies for individuals. It targets people with at least $5 million in investment, which also means that the product is targeted at high net worth individuals.
It is reported that competitors of Blackstone, such as quantitative giants KKR, Apollo Global, and Carlyle Group, have all designed similar fund products for wealthy individual investors.
According to public information, Blackstone was originally on the path of promoting fund products to billionaires, and now remains the largest participant in this field.
As an alternative asset management company, Blackstone's management scale exceeds trillions of dollars, making it a true American private equity giant. Its business includes equity investment, real estate investment, hedge funds, etc. In the past, Blackstone had a good reputation in investment fields such as global logistics, digital infrastructure, and energy transformation, and has begun to expand into the field of artificial intelligence in recent years.
On November 3, 2023, Blackstone released its third quarter report data, which showed that as of September 30, 2023, the total distributable profit for the third quarter was about 1.21 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 12%, and the management scale was 1.01 trillion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of about 6%.
Previously, Blackstone Group also faced another severe test. At the end of 2022, due to a sharp increase in investor panic about the real estate market, Blackstone's real estate investment trust fund BREIT faced a large-scale redemption by investors. Due to a surge in redemption requests, Blackstone had to urgently restrict the redemption of funds for BREIT.
Layout in China
Not only in terms of product innovation, Blackstone also actively engages in cross-border investment to tap into the investment potential of the Chinese market.
In August 2023, Blackstone (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd., established with 100% investment from Blackstone Group (Hong Kong) Limited, completed registration with the China Securities Investment Fund Industry Association (hereinafter referred to as the CFA).
According to the registration information, Blackstone (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. has a total of 7 full-time employees, of which 5 have obtained the qualification to work in the fund industry. Its institutional category is other private equity fund managers, and its business type is pilot institutions such as QDLP. Currently, its management scale ranges from 0 to 500 million yuan.
At the end of December 2023, Blackstone's office in Shanghai will be further expanded. It is understood that the office of Heishi (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd., which has completed registration with the China Securities Association, has landed in Shanghai Xingye Taikouhui.
According to public information, Blackstone also has a subsidiary, Blackstone (Shanghai) Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd., which was established in July 2010 with a registered capital of 2 million US dollars. It completed registration with the China Securities Association in May 2014 and its business type is private equity investment funds.
