Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative investment firm, surpassed Wall Street expectations for its key quarterly earnings metric on Thursday, with assets under management (AUM) reaching a record $1.1 trillion. The New York-based firm reported $41 billion in inflows during the third quarter and deployed or committed $54 billion in capital, marking its highest level of capital activity in over two years. This surge was driven by a revival in dealmaking as the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates and the economic outlook remained stable.
Over the past several quarters, higher interest rates had weighed on certain parts of Blackstone’s business. However, with the Federal Reserve now easing rates, that burden has begun to lessen. The firm saw its private equity funds appreciate by 6.2% and its infrastructure funds by 5.5% during the quarter, contributing to the highest fund appreciation in three years.
CEO Steve Schwarzman praised the results, describing them as “broad-based acceleration across our business.” Blackstone’s distributable earnings, representing cash available for dividend payments, reached $1.3 billion in the third quarter, up 6% from the same period last year. Distributable earnings per share came in at $1.01, beating the $0.92 average estimate from analysts, according to LSEG data.
Fundraising was led by credit during the quarter, and private wealth AUM reached $250 billion. Notably, individual fundraising nearly doubled year-to-date compared to the previous year.
Among the major deals Blackstone closed in the quarter was the $16 billion acquisition of Australia’s AirTrunk, further expanding its data center market presence, which supports cloud services and AI. The firm also teamed up with Vista Equity Partners for the $8.4 billion acquisition of U.S. software company Smartsheet, including debt.
Blackstone’s market capitalization now stands at $195 billion, with its stock hitting an all-time high of $159.71 on October 16.
