Blackstone raises $30.4 billion for latest real estate fund

(Reuters) – Blackstone Inc said on Tuesday it had raised $30.4 billion for its latest global real estate fund, as the private equity behemoth looks to double down on the industry.

The fund, called Blackstone Real Estate Partners X, is 48% bigger than the asset management giant’s previous real estate fund which closed in 2019.

Blackstone has been focusing its portfolio on logistics, rental housing, hospitality, lab office and data centers, shifting away from assets like traditional office and malls that are facing headwinds from a post-pandemic adoption of flexible work and surge in e-commerce.

“Sector selection has never been more critical as we witness the bifurcation of performance within real estate,” Ken Caplan, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate, said in a statement.

Blackstone shares were up nearly 1% in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)