NEW DELHI -- BlackRock Real Estate, the realty investment management arm of private equity major BlackRock, has received additional capital commitments of $52.92 million for its fifth Asia-focused fund, according to the firm's latest SEC filings.
The fifth fund -- BlackRock Asia Property Fund V -- was reported to have achieved a first close at $500 million in January. The firm began marketing the fund in September 2019 and had already secured between $300 million and $350 million in commitments then.
The filing did not disclose the fund's target amount.
BlackRock Real Estate closed its fourth Asia-focused realty fund -- the value-add Asia Property Fund IV -- at $500 million in November 2017, falling short of its original target of $1 billion.
BlackRock has been an active real estate investor in Asia. The private equity heavyweight in 2013 acquired Singapore-based private equity firm MGPA, which started off as the property investment arm of Australia's Macquarie Group.
At the end of 2018, BlackRock had $471 billion of assets under management in Asia across various strategies, including alternatives (private equity and real estate), equities, and fixed-income, multiasset and exchange-traded funds. Globally, the firm manages a record $7.8 trillion in assets.
In its Asia outlook report published in June, BlackRock said the continent "stands out" as a probable beneficiary when global growth returns to a normal pace, in 2022 at the earliest, Reuters reported. The world's largest asset manager said it sees oil stocks, and domestic tourism in Asia as key investment areas through the novel coronavirus pandemic. In the outlook report, the New York firm said it favored state-owned businesses in China in the investment-grade category and the real estate sector in the high-yield category.
Asian real estate as an asset class has always attracted attention from regional and foreign institutional investors. New York-based private equity firm Apollo Global Management is on road to raise its second Asia opportunity real estate fund, Apollo Asia Real Estate Fund II. The first fund, which closed in 2017, raised $281.7 million against a $600 million target.
In June, global investment powerhouse KKR & Co. raised an initial $698 million for its new Asia-focused real estate vehicle, KKR Asia Real Estate Partners SCSp. In March, CBRE Global Investors marked the final close of its latest fund -- CBRE Asia Value Partners V -- at its hard cap of $900 million.
Blackstone Group, KKR's U.S.-based rival, raised $7.1 billion for its Asia-focused real estate fund in 2018.
For the original story from DealStreetAsia, click here.
DealStreetAsia is a financial news site based in Singapore that focuses on private equity, venture capital and corporate investment activity in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, India and greater China. Nikkei owns a majority stake in the company.
