Blackstone, the giant of the funds that snubs the US and invests 500 billion in Europe: « The market is growing »

The US Fund Blackstone is ready to invest 500 billion dollars in Europe in the next 10 years. « Let’s see great opportunities for us, » said the number one of Blackstone, Stephen Schwarzman, at the Bloomberg agency. « European countries are starting to change approach, which we believe will lead to greater economic growth rates ».

Investments in Italy

Schwarzman spoke on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Blackstone London office. In the United Kingdom, the fund has already engaged over 100 billionbecoming one of the main foreign investors in the country. However, the fund has also carried out important operations in other European states, including Italy, where the company has already invested about 15 billion. Currently, Blackstone is the shareholder of Autostrade per l’Italia and Mundys, while in the past he has been the owner of Versace and of the building in via Montenapoleone in Milan then detected by Kering.

Interest in Europe

Like Blackstone, Other large private equity funds have also recently expressed their intention to increase exposure to the European market in this period of large turbulence in the United States. On the other hand, compared to the past, Europe seems to offer greater political stability and also more rosy growth prospects. As well as a less crowded market and with more reasonable assessments if compared to the star of American groups.

Overexposure in the USA

So far, in fact, the funds have dedicated a predominant share of money to the United States. According to an analysis of Bain & Company, Despite the gap between the USA and Europe in terms of GDP is 20%, the investments of private equity in North America surpassed by 170% those in the old continent. The chaos unleashed by Donald Trump could thus offer the opportunity for a rebalancing of the wallets.

The story of Blackstone

Founded in 1985, Blackstone has become the largest manager specialized in alternative markets over time – that is, different from shares and bonds – with over 1000 billion investments ranging from immobiliar to private equity, passing through infrastructures and private debt. The ascent of the company has made Plurimiliario Schwarzman with a fortune estimated by Bloomberg in over 43 billion who makes the 31st richest man in the world. Only in 2024 did the CEO of Blackstone grossed a billion between salary (84 million) and dividends (916 million).

The difficulties of the funds

However, the private equity industry is now going through a phase of difficulty, dictated by Difficulty selling the companies that are pushing the great institutional investors to press on the managers to get their money back and not to sign new funds. In this framework Blackstone and the other asset managers are looking for alternative channels of collection of money, contacting retail more and more often.