Shares in Blackstone (BX), the world’s largest alternative asset manager, barely moved on Wednesday after new filings showed that demand for its flagship BCRED private credit fund softened in the first quarter of the year.
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Gross Inflows into Blackstone’s BCRED Weaken
BCRED operates as a non-traded business development company and mainly invests in senior secured loans in sectors such as software and healthcare. However, gross inflow into the fund — which currently manages about $80 billion in assets — trickled to $1.9 billion during the first quarter as redemption requests surged.
The New York-based company is one of several asset managers rocked by the recent investor push to pull out more than $20 billion from private credit funds over worries about lending to software companies — a sector battered by jitters that AI will render the traditional software business model obsolete. Others affected include KKR (KKR), Apollo Global Management (APO), Ares Management (ARES), and Blue Owl Capital (OWL), among others.
An earlier filing showed that investors yanked a record $3.7 billion from BCRED within the first weeks of the year, forcing Blackstone to impose a withdrawal cap at 7%. In response, Blackstone scrambled to raise its liquidity profile, with its senior executives pitching in with at least $150 million.
Blackstone Boosts Liquidity after Record Redemption Requests
The latest document shows that Blackstone had about $15 billion in cash and available funding during the period. Of this figure, roughly $7 billion came from fresh capital injections, showing Blackstone’s capacity to ramp up its liquidity base in response to emergencies.
Is Blackstone a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts rate Blackstone’s shares as a Moderate Buy. This is based on eight Buys and five Holds assigned by 13 analysts over the past three months.
However, the average BX price target of $145.46 implies approximately 20% upside from current trading levels.
