Blackstone to raise $400 million to boost credit fund's lending power - FT

Nov 16 (Reuters) - Blackstone (BX.N) is in the final stages of raising about $400 million for its Blackstone Private Credit Fund (BCRED) to secure additional investment advantage, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The New York-based investment manager is planning to raise funds through collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) secured by the loans held by its flagship $52 billion private credit fund, the report added, citing documents viewed by the newspaper.

Blackstone did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The private equity firm will sell loans that BCRED owns to the CLO to enhance competitiveness, FT said. It will also sell debt from software maker Zendesk, cyber security business Mimecast and Unified Women’s Healthcare, according to the report.

Blackstone, which also manages multiple other funds, faced a significant decline in withdrawal requests from Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) in September, Kathleen MacCarthy, its global co-head of real estate, said then. Last year, it blocked investor withdrawals from BREIT after requests exceeded a preset 5% of the net asset value of the fund.

Financial Times had in August reported that Blackstone, , plans to launch a private equity fund for wealthy individuals early next year. Blackstone had declined to comment on that report.

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