Blackstone raises its largest Asia private equity fund with US$13.1 billion in final close of third such fund

[SINGAPORE] Blackstone has raised US$13.1 billion in the final close of its Asian private equity (PE) fund, Blackstone Capital Partners Asia III (BCP Asia III).

This is the largest PE fund the firm has raised in Asia as BCP Asia III reached its hard cap, exceeding the US$10 billion target.

Joe Baratta, global head of Blackstone PE strategies, said: “Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing region in the world, presenting compelling opportunities to invest at scale behind our high-conviction themes.”

Blackstone has invested more than US$7 billion in Asia over 12 transactions in the last 24 months. These include Neysa, an Indian artificial intelligence cloud platform for training and inference of AI models. The PE firm led a US$1.2 billion investment round into the AI platform in February, comprising US$600 million in equity financing and US$600 million in debt financing.

Japanese IT services provider TechnoPro was taken private by Blackstone in December with an about US$3.5 billion offer. The company will eventually be relisted as an AI implementation staffing company.

Another deal Blackstone has done in Asia is an investment in Juno, a South Korean hair salon franchise for a reported US$590 million. The PE firm is likely teeing up the company for global expansion, following Blackstone’s strategy of backing Korean mid-market companies with strong appeal overseas.

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Blackstone has also seen a number of exits in the last two years, including the listing of lab-grown diamonds certification player International Gemological Institute and India’s affordable housing financing business Aadhar Housing Finance on the National Stock Exchange of India.

The PE firm also sold Japan’s Alinamin Pharmaceutical for about US$2.2 billion, based on media reports, to North Asian buyout fund MBK Partners in July 2024.

“We believe our differentiation lies in our scale, supported by home-grown teams across the region’s major markets; strong performance; and our control-oriented strategy that enables us to have a hands-on, proactive approach to supporting business transformations,” said Amit Dixit, head of Asia for Blackstone PE.