Blackstone Group LP (BX), the world’s
biggest manager of alternative assets, will seek more
investments in Southeast Asia following the opening of an office
in Singapore seven years after entering the Asia-Pacific region.
Blackstone, led by Chief Executive Officer Stephen Schwarzman, has more than $5 billion of Asian assets, of which
more than half are in real estate. Singapore will be the firm’s
second office with treasury functions after New York, according
to the company, which manages about $248 billion worldwide.
“When I was here nine months ago we had only a few people
in this office and now it’s 35,” Schwarzman said in a speech at
the opening event in the island-state yesterday. “At that
growth rate we are going to be doing well here in Singapore.”
The office, its eighth in Asia after cities including Hong
Kong, Tokyo, Mumbai and Sydney, will give the New York-based
firm its first presence in Southeast Asia, where the economy is
forecast by the Asian Development Bank to expand 4.9 percent
this year and 5.3 percent in 2014. Private-equity deals in
Southeast Asia, excluding Myanmar, totaled $9 billion so far
this year, compared with $6 billion in 2012, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg.
Blackstone’s investments in Asia are made up of $3.05
billion of real estate, including the StarHub business park in
Singapore. An additional $2.63 billion is in private equity,
according to the company.
Expansion Timing
Hong Kong is the firm’s largest office in Asia with about
70 people, according to Peter Rose, Blackstone’s senior managing
director of public affairs. The firm, which has more than 200
employees in the region, also manages $23 billion on behalf of
limited partners in Asia, according to company data.
Blackstone is expanding in Southeast Asia as the regional
outlook dims. The Indonesian rupiah’s drop in the past three
months led declines among emerging-market currencies amid
outflows from developing nations, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg.
Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index (FSSTI) has gained 0.9
percent this year, the smallest among developed markets, the
data showed.
“Up until recently, Southeast Asia really stood out as the
main bright spot in the region,” said Gareth Leather, a London-based Asia economist at Capital Economics Ltd. “Despite all
that, the economy is still OK. In terms of long-term drivers of
growth, the demographics are still favorable.”
Blackstone rose 79 percent this year through yesterday,
closing at $27.84, in New York trading. The company sold shares
to the public at $31 each in 2007.
Middle Class
The main sectors for private-equity deals in Southeast
Asia, where most of the region’s 650 million people will be
middle class by 2020, will be consumer goods such as food and
beverage, consumer finance, health care and industrials,
Sebastien Lamy, a partner at Bain Co., which provides
management consulting services to the private-equity industry,
said in April.
KKR Co. (KKR), the private-equity firm run by Henry Kravis and
George Roberts, opened its first Singapore office a year ago,
its seventh in the Asia-Pacific region. The firm’s $359 million
investment in Vietnam’s Masan Consumer Corp. was its biggest in
the region. KKR also said this month it agreed to buy Weststar
Aviation Services Sdn. for 642 million ringgit ($202 million),
marking its first investment in Malaysia.
Blackstone said Singapore offers the financial
infrastructure it needs. The company moved one of its four real
estate partners in Asia to the city-state from Japan, it said.
“One of the attractions of Singapore is that it’s easy to
find talent here,” Rose said in an interview in Singapore
yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore at
cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Lars Klemming at
lklemming@bloomberg.net
Blackstone Group’s Singapore office
Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
The logo for Blackstone Group LP is displayed during the opening of the company’s new office in Singapore.
The logo for Blackstone Group LP is displayed during the opening of the company’s new office in Singapore. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman
Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and chief executive officer of Blackstone Group LP, speaks during the opening of the company’s new office in Singapore.
Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and chief executive officer of Blackstone Group LP, speaks during the opening of the company’s new office in Singapore. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg
Blackstone Opens Singapore Office in Expansion Drive
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