Blackstone credit and insurance assets reach $480bn after $35.8bn third-quarter inflows

Blackstone's credit and insurance business finished the third quarter with $480bn in assets after pulling in $35.8bn of inflows, according to Alternative Credit Investor's account of the firm's results. The division raised $142.8bn over the past 12 months.

Infrastructure and asset-based credit strategies took $18bn of the quarterly total, and $16.5bn of that came from insurance separately managed accounts. Global direct lending raised $11.9bn, about $6.1bn less than the asset-based bucket. The $16.5bn from the separately managed accounts equals roughly 46 per cent of the division's quarterly inflows.

Private credit returned 2.6 per cent gross, or 1.8 per cent net, in the quarter, and 6.7 per cent gross (3.9 per cent net) over 12 months, according to the report. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone's chairman and chief executive, said in the results statement that the firm's flagship strategies "outperformed comparable public market indices".

The division deployed $13.4bn in the quarter, including deals with Williams and Air Canada, and $62.1bn over 12 months. It also closed three CLOs worth $1.3bn, the results showed.

Firmwide, Blackstone's assets topped $1.37tn, and Schwarzman put total inflows at $63bn, meaning credit and insurance supplied more than half of quarterly fundraising.