Blackstone to expand credit, infra biz in India

Blackstone Group Inc. of the US will build out its credit and infrastructure verticals in India to complement its private equity (PE) and real estate businesses, senior executives at the firm said, adding that the firm is expecting to double its India assets under management (AUM) over the next three years.

- Ranjani Raghavan & Sneha Shah

"We have a global (credit) business of over $450 billion in assets that we hope to bring into India," Blackstone's chairman, chief executive officer and co-founder Stephen Schwarzman said in a media interaction in Mumbai. To be sure, Blackstone has an overall AUM of more than $1.1 trillion.

"We also think that it is very logical to try and bring (to India) our infrastructure business in the future," added Schwarzman, an Indophile, who is in India this week to celebrate Blackstone's 20th anniversary. The PE firm is expected to host more than 300 top firms and business partners in Mumbai in a private event on 13 March to mark the milestone.

Blackstone's India head and Asia head of private equity Amit Dixit said that the firm's success in India is likely to help it find more investment opportunities and double its assets under management in India in the near term.

Dixit said it plans to do so by building its credit and infrastructure verticals, while strengthening the PE and real estate businesses. Currently, the firm's AUM in India stands anywhere between $50 billion and $55 billion, he said.