NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - Blackstone Inc ,
the biggest manager of assets such as private equity and real
estate, said on Thursday its first-quarter distributable
earnings fell 36% year-on-year, as a weak property market
stopped it from cashing out on some holdings.
Blackstone has been grappling with redemptions at its
flagship real estate income trust (BREIT), prompting it to
exercise its right to block investor withdrawals at 5% of the
quarterly net asset value of the fund every month since
November.
The slowdown in commercial real estate — triggered by higher
interest rates, fears about an economic slowdown and businesses
consolidating office space in the aftermath of the COVID-19
pandemic — has also prevented Blackstone from selling assets for
top dollar in many of its real estate funds.
Distributable earnings, which represent the cash used for
shareholder dividends, fell to $1.25 billion in the first
quarter from $1.94 billion a year earlier, Blackstone said. That
translated to distributable earnings per share of 97 cents,
slightly over the average analyst estimate of 96 cents,
according to financial data provider Refinitiv.
Blackstone's fee-related earnings fell 9% to $1.04 billion,
as fewer asset sales led to lower performance fees.
Blackstone's opportunistic and core real estate funds
depreciated by 0.4% and 1.6% over the first quarter,
respectively. Corporate private equity and private credit funds
gained 2.8% and 3.4%, respectively.
Blackstone ended the first quarter with $991.3 billion in
total assets under management, up 8% year-over-year. It had set
a target of reaching $1 trillion in assets by the end of 2022,
an ambition it had brought forward from 2026.
Under generally accepted accounting principles, Blackstone
reported net income of just $211 million, down from $2.5 billion
in the prior year, owing to the drop in asset sales as well as a
decline in the value of its assets.
(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; editing by Uttaresh
Venkateshwaran)
Messaging: greg.roumeliotis.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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