Blackstone Eyes India,its Most Profitable Market

The Wall Street major Blackstone, which is holding more than $50 billion in assets under management already is now eyeing to escalate its bet on India. It is promising to pump in more dollars in the future than it has already invested in the past decade.

Stephen A Schwarzman, co-founder, chairman and chief executive, Blackstone believe that for the firm with close to $620 billion in AUMs worldwide, India is its most profitable market in terms of profit as its seed investment close to $25 billion is worth more than $50 billion at present.

In the past decade, the company has invested over $22 billion in India and some of its existing investments comprise of Mphasis, Nexus Malls, edutech player Aakash, the largest specialty glass packaging maker Piramal Glass ($1 billion), global leader in recyclable packaging tubes Essel Propack, and largest independent affordable housing finance company Aadhar, Prestige commercial and retail portfolio for $1.6 billion amongst others.

India has been the most successful investment destination for the firm. Thus, the firm anticipates to invest more in the following 10 years that it has already invested in the previous period, states Stephen in a statement. Furthermore, he also announced a $5-million Covid-19 aid to the country.

Blackstone is one of the largest private market investors in India, managing close to $50 billion of market value. This makes it one of the 10 largest business houses in the country, Stephen says, adding it is the largest commercial real estate owner in India with a portfolio of around 130 million across offices and retail malls.

Furthermore, the India portfolio majors, that include real estate firms, support employment of close to two million and directly employ more than 65,000, he states.

In 2021, Blackstone has invested about $5.5 billion, including the $ 2.8-billion it committed last week into the software firm Mphasis in which it already owns 56 percent, through an open offer for 26 percent more. Furthermore, Blackstone had invested only $4 billion and made exits worth $2 billion in the year.

'We are committing USD 5 million to support India's pandemic reliefs and vaccination efforts to provide healthcare services to marginalised communities in rural and urban areas, address shortages of oxygen concentrators and ventilators, and provide healthcare workers with essential supplies,' states Stephen.