Blackstone CFO Says Firm’s Scale Gives It an Edge in the AI Boom

Blackstone Chief Financial Officer Michael Chae said the firm’s portfolio construction and strategy allow it to capture growth in artificial intelligence, AI, and infrastructure, and to deploy and attract capital at scale. According to Sina Finance, Chae said at a Barclays conference on Tuesday that Blackstone completed nine initial public offerings for its portfolio companies over the past year, while six others have filed for listings around the world. Chae said the alternative asset manager, which oversees $1.3 trillion in assets, invests in AI, power, life sciences, and private-market lending to companies. He said 70% of Blackstone’s largest investments over the past 12 months were concentrated in those areas and that it is now a good time to deploy capital. He also said Blackstone raised more than $260 billion over the past year, its best 12-month period in nearly four years, and that institutional investor inflows jumped 50% over the same period. Chae said Blackstone’s AI investments will begin to show up in earnings as strong performance drives fee growth.