NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that it has had its final close for its latest global private equity fund, Blackstone Capital Partners VII (BCP VII). Fundraising began in November 2014 and the fund had a record $15.7 billion first close in May, seven months after launching. There are more than 250 limited partners from 40 countries in the fund. Demand for the fund was significantly in excess of its hard cap of $17.5 billion. Taken together with Blackstone and its employees’ commitment of $500 million, BCP VII will have $18 billion of available equity capital to invest. Blackstone expects to begin making investments out of this fund during the first quarter of 2016.
Commenting on the closing, Joseph Baratta, the global head of Blackstone’s private equity business, said, “We are enormously appreciative of our investors’ trust and strong support of BCP VII. We have an excellent team that is working tirelessly to continue generating favorable long-term returns for our investors.”
Blackstone’s private equity business manages more than $91 billion in equity as of the end of the third quarter 2015.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with over $330 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
