Investors, including sovereign wealth and pension funds, have backed Blackstone’s second global infrastructure-focused secondary fund to raise $1.75bn (€1.43bn) at final close.

Blackstone’s Strategic Partners Fund Solutions said Strategic Partners Real Assets II and related entities (SP RA II), received capital from global investor base which also includes financial institutions, endowments, foundations and family offices, enabling it to reach its hard cap limit.

In June last year, IPE Real Assets reported that Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) is committing $200m to SP RA II.

SP RA II began investing in May 2017 and has already closed or partially closed 14 transactions, Strategic Partners said today.

Verdun Perry, a senior managing director and co-head of Strategic Partners, said: “We have one of the widest footprints in all of private equity. 

With our experience and global reach, we believe Strategic Partners is well-positioned to capitalize on the dramatic increase in secondary infrastructure opportunities.”

Mark Bhupathi, principal and head of real assets, said: “This new, dedicated pool of capital is critical to unlocking new opportunities across the secondary market as infrastructure and real assets become a larger and more important part of investor portfolios. 

“As one of the first movers in this space, we are seeing a multitude of attractive opportunities to provide our limited partners with exposure to this asset class.”

Strategic Partners was sold to Blackstone by Credit Suisse in 2013.