Blackstone earnings rise as it cashes out on investments
US investment giant Blackstone reported a nine per cent rise in distributable earnings in the third quarter as it took advantage of market uncertainty and cashed out on some of its investments.
Distributable earnings for the year-to-date came to $772m, up from $710m a year earlier, which translated into earnings per share of 63 cents.
Total assets under management rose to $584.4bn, up marginalyl from $564.3bn in the previous quarter.
The investment firm increased its total private equity assets under management by nine per cent to $189.2bn with inflows of $3.9bn in the quarter.
Its private equity portfolio grew 12.2 per cent, while its opportunistic and core real estate funds rose 6.4 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.
During the third quarter, Blackstone completed the $7bn sale of Cheniere Energy Partners to Brookfield Asset Management and Blackstone Infrastructure Partners.
It also completed the $625m float of India’s second real estate investment trust Mindspace Business Parks.
Chairman and chief executive Stephen Schwarzman said: “Blackstone reported excellent results in the third quarter, characterized by strong investment performance and earnings growth. We are also seeing positive forward momentum in both realizations and deployment.”
Total revenues for the third quarter came in at $1.05bn compared to $878m in the same period last year. It brings total revenues to $2.96bn in the year-to-date.
Under generally accepted accounting principles, Blackstone reported net income of $797.4m as a growth in investment income was partly offset by compensation expenses.
Blackstone said it would pay a quarterly dividend of 54 cents per share.