Blackstone Group LP (BX.N), the world's largest private equity investor in real estate, has almost f...

1. Blackstone Group raises $15.8 billion for real estate fund:
source | Reuters
Blackstone Group LP (BX.N), the world's largest private equity investor in real estate, has almost
finished raising its next flagship global real estate fund, amassing $15.8 billion, a person familiar
with the matter said on Monday.
From buying single-family homes in the United States to distressed commercial San Diego real
estate broker property in Europe, real estate has overtaken private equity as Blackstone's most high-
profile and lucrative business. It http://www.housingpredictor.com/california/ accounted for 43
percent of the New York-based firm's economic net income in 2014.
Blackstone declined to comment on the fund, called Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII. The Wall
Street Journal first reported on the end of the fundraising process earlier on Monday. Reuters
reported in October that Blackstone had started San Diego real estate to market the fund with a $13
billion target.
Blackstone has enjoyed phenomenal success in the sector. Its previous fund, Blackstone Real Estate
Partners VII, which raised $13.4 billion in 2012, reported a net internal rate of return of 27 percent
as of the end of December.
As a result of Blackstone's success in the sector, its head of real estate, Jonathan Gray, is being
viewed as a potential successor to Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman, who is a co-founder of the
firm, people familiar with the matter have previously told Reuters.
The $26 billion leveraged buyout of Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT.N), carried out jointly by
Blackstone's real estate and private equity funds in 2007, ended up being the most profitable deal in
the firm's history.
(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Mike Stone; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/30/us-blackstone-group-realestate-idUSKBN0MQ21O201503
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