Blackstone held the final close of its latest private equity global secondaries strategy, Strategic Partners IX (SP IX), and its inaugural GP-led continuation fund strategy, Strategic Partners GP Solutions (SP GPS), at a combined $25 billion.
According to Blackstone, SP IX is the world’s largest dedicated secondaries fund raised to date with $22.2 billion in total commitments. SP GPS has $2.7 billion in investor commitments.
Both funding rounds show the continued growth prospect in a market that has grown rapidly in the last two years. According to Coller Capital, liquidity shortfalls will lead to a reduction in LP commitment pace. However, while the inflows to private equity may slow down, one-third of investors forecast net annual returns from their private equity portfolios of over 16% in the next three to five years. The survey last showed such bullish figures for private equity gains in 2011.
Blackstone Strategic Partners, which is overseen by Verdun Perry, is focused on providing a range of liquidity solutions to both investors and private equity sponsors, including single interest and portfolio sales, GP-led secondaries, and co-investments. In the decade since joining Blackstone, the business has grown from less than $10 billion to $67 billion of assets under management across its private equity, real estate, infrastructure and GP-led strategies.
“We are incredibly grateful to our investors for their continued support,” said Perry, global head of Blackstone Strategic Partners. “We remain committed to generating strong risk-adjusted returns for the millions of beneficiaries that our investors represent. With the substantial scale and our multi-strategy footprint, we believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on the vast, and growing, opportunities across the secondary market.”
Blackstone officials have closed over 1,900 transactions across its private equity, infrastructure, and real estate platforms, representing more than 5,100 underlying fund interests managed by over 1,550 managers.
