Blackstone Group may raise over $100 billion this year

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.

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