China Fund News Wu Juanjuan
According to information from the website of the China Securities Investment Fund Industry Association, the global alternative investment giant Blackstone has registered its private equity product "Blackstone Overseas Investment No.1 Private Securities Investment Fund" with the association. This is the first product issued by Blackstone after obtaining the Qualified Domestic Limited Partnership (QDLP) qualification.
According to the information on the association's website, the product manager is Blackstone (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd., registered as other types of private equity, engaged in QDLP business from domestic fundraising to overseas markets. The registered address of the company is Room 3905, Building 1, No. 288 Shimen 1st Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai, with a registered capital of 2 million US dollars.
According to the registration information of the association, Ren Ying, the legal representative and chairman of the company, has previously served as the General Manager of Blackstone (Hong Kong) and Head of Private Wealth Solutions Business in Greater China.
Blackstone has been established in China for a long time. As early as 2007, Blackstone established offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and other places. In 2008, Blackstone made a real estate acquisition in mainland China by investing 1 billion yuan to acquire a shopping center in Shanghai. In 2011, Blackstone Group sold its equity in the shopping center to New World Development Limited. Heishi (Shanghai) Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd. was registered as a private equity and venture capital fund manager in the association in 2014. The office addresses of Blackstone (Shanghai) Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd. and Blackstone (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. are located in the same building in Shanghai.
At present, Blackstone Real Estate Fund has also established a diversified asset management platform DragonCor Longdi, focusing on managing its real estate investment portfolio in mainland China.
The first trillion dollar alternative investment giant in history
Blackstone is the world's leading alternative investment giant. In mid-2023, its asset management scale exceeded trillions of dollars, making it the first alternative investment giant in history to manage a scale exceeding trillions of dollars.
On April 18, 2024, Blackstone released its Q1 2024 performance report, which showed that as of the end of Q1 2024, its asset management scale increased by 7% month on month, reaching $1.06 trillion. Blackstone stated that the growth in scale is due to the smooth progress of Blackstone's real estate and infrastructure strategies in holding data center platforms. They have achieved rapid growth driven by the artificial intelligence revolution.
In the field of private wealth, Blackstone's sustainability strategy raised a total of 6.6 billion US dollars; In the field of debt, Blackstone Debt and Insurance (BXCI) and Real Estate Debt Business (BREDS) together contributed over 60% of the company's quarterly total capital inflows.
Blackstone Chairman and CEO Su Shimin stated that the trading environment is improving and the opportunity to deploy capital is highly attractive. He revealed that he holds nearly $200 billion in dry powder and is fully prepared to capture investment opportunities.
Jon Gray, President of Blackstone Group, believes that there are many positive signals in the field of alternative investment at present.
Firstly, the debt capital market has been restored, and the stock market has also recovered. This year, the IPO market has restarted, and M&A transactions have resumed. This is good news for Blackstone. It not only has more opportunities to invest capital, but also more opportunities to monetize investments. In addition, there are clear signs of recovery in the private wealth management sector. Blackstone expects the market size of the private wealth management sector to reach $80 trillion, and there is still vast room for growth in this field.
It indicates that inflation has fallen from high levels. Ultimately, inflation will decrease to a certain level. Inflation is at this level, and the Federal Reserve has enough confidence to implement interest rate cuts. However, it is uncertain when interest rates will be lowered at present, which brings us investment opportunities.
He mentioned that in the past few decades, in traditional stock bond portfolios, the bond portion was generally composed of highly liquid assets. However, investors can invest a portion of their assets in illiquid debt assets to increase returns. In addition, under the AI revolution, people's demand for AI infrastructure will significantly increase. Blackstone already owns or is constructing data centers worth up to $50 billion, and is also preparing to build data centers worth up to $50 billion. He further stated that predicting winners is difficult for technology investment, but those who provide infrastructure will always enjoy dividends.
Three foreign giants registered as private equity managers
Outside of Blackstone, foreign institutions have been taking frequent actions recently.
In March, three foreign giants registered as private equity and venture capital fund managers in China.
Specifically, on March 18th, Hanling (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. registered as a private equity and venture capital fund manager with a registered capital of 20 million yuan and 8 full-time employees in the Fund Industry Association.
On March 8th, Bofeng (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. was registered as a private equity and venture capital fund manager, with 6 full-time employees. On the same day, KKR Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. registered as a private equity and venture capital fund manager. It is a subsidiary of global private equity giant KKR.
As early as 2022, KKR established Kaide Private Equity Fund Management (Hainan) Co., Ltd. in Hainan, which is engaged in QDLP business. The latter is registered as a manager of other private equity investment funds in the association and has already established a fund.
