Blackstone is expected to come to the market with its latest global real estate fund this year, according to a potential investor.
A board meeting report from the Los Angeles Water & Power Employees’ Retirement Plan (WPERP) reveals that the pension fund is considering making a commitment to the fund.
Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX would be the latest in a line of global opportunity funds.
Blackstone declined a request for comment.
The WPERP report did not state the size of the potential commitment nor the fundraising target of the fund.
But it was reported earlier this year that the pension fund planned to invest $270m (€232m) in real estate strategies this year. It intends to commit $60-90m to core strategies, $60-90m to value-add strategies, and up to $90m to opportunistic strategies.
Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII, the most recent fund in the series, raised $15.8bn by October 2016.
It generated a 17% net internal rate of return, according to Blackstone’s first-quarter results this year.
Blackstone is due to announce its second-quarter results on Thursday.
The WPERP report also implies Blackstone will launch a sixth opportunistic European real estate fund in the future. The pension fund said it will consider making a commitment to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI in 2019.
WPERP made a $25m commitment in 2013 to Blackstone Real Estate Partners V, the company’s largest-ever European opportunity fund.
