Blackstone posts modest Q2 profit jump on private equity

NEW YORK, July 18 (Reuters): Blackstone said on Thursday its second-quarter distributable earnings rose 3 per cent from a year earlier, as a jump in asset sales in its private equity and credit divisions more than offset a slump in its real estate arm.

The New York-based investment firm's results underscore how a long spell of high interest rates has dragged down some aspects of its business while buoying others.

High rates have weighed on Blackstone's real estate value and made dealmaking more expensive, yet they also boosted the worth of its credit assets and helped tame inflationary pressures.

Hopes that the US Federal Reserve will start cutting rates have contributed to a market rally that Blackstone has seized on to cash out on some of its companies for top dollar.

Blackstone's distributable earnings, which represent cash that can be used to pay dividends, totaled $1.3 billion in the second quarter. This translated into distributable earnings per share of 96 cents, slightly short of analysts' average estimate of 98 cents, according to LSEG data.

A 16 per cent increase in distributable earnings in Blackstone's private equity unit and a 51 per cent jump in its credit arm outweighed the 19 per cent drop in distributable earnings in its real estate division.

Blackstone's core private equity funds appreciated 2 per cent in the quarter, and the firm took advantage of the elevated market valuations to cash out on $7.8 billion of its private equity assets.

Blackstone's opportunistic real estate funds appreciated 0.3 per cent in the quarter and the firm cashed out on $5.5 billion of real estate assets. Its private credit funds posted a gross return of 4.2 per cent and the firm cashed out on $9.5 billion of credit assets.

The company said it saw about $40 billion inflows to its funds and deployed $34 billion in capital from them in the second quarter, the highest level of investment activity in two years.