Blackstone has raised $15.8bn (€21.3bn) for its eighth global real estate fund.
The investment manager’s Real Estate Partners VIII vehicle was backed by returning, existing investors from both the US and abroad.
The company had been aiming for a $13bn total raise for Partners VIII, with leverage at 60-65%.
Blackstone’s two regional opportunistic real estate funds, Real Estate Partners Europe IV and Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia, have $8.2bn and $5bn to invest, respectively.
Jon Gray, Blackstone’s global head of real estate, said the size of fund VIII gave it the ability to commit capital in scale with “speed and certainty”.
Blackstone is paying a 13% premium to acquire a US hotel REIT for $6bn for the fund.
Strategic Hotels & Resorts, which owns 17 American hotels and resorts, is being acquired outright by the private equity group at $14.25 per share in cash.
In April, Blackstone said it was paying $3.3bn for GE Capital’s US equity assets on behalf of fund VIII.
