At the end of the second quarter Blackstone had a record $545.5 billion in assets under management

We are about to see a big boost in Blackstone AUM in 2019.

The world’s largest manager of alternative assets raised $45.1 billion during the second quarter, giving it a total of $88 billion raised during the first six months of this year.

Given this trend, Blackstone may easily overhaul its targeted raising of $100 billion for the year.

Blackstone AUM Boost

According to President Jonathan Gray, who was speaking on the company’s conference call Thursday, the final tally of fund-raising could be “significantly more” than the $100 billion target.

Already, at the end of the second quarter, Blackstone was sitting on a cash hoard of a massive $150.3 billion, a record for the company.

At Blackstone this year, records are for the breaking it seems. The firm is also planning to launch a $25 billion buyout fund, its largest ever.

Problem of plenty

Alternative asset managers are sitting on huge amounts of capital awaiting deployment. This so-called ‘dry powder’ is chasing a limited number of deals, raising prices and pressuring returns.

Barclays recently rated Blackstone and other leading private equity stocks as a buy.