Blackstone has said that it blocked investors from redeeming their investments in its $71 billion real estate income trust (BREIT) as the private equity firm continues to face an avalanche of redemption requests.
In a letter to investors, BREIT disclosed that it fulfilled redemption requests totaling $1.4 billion in February, representing only 35 percent of the approximately $3.9 billion in total withdrawal requests for the month.
According to the company, the total BREIT redemption requests in February were 26% less than the approximately $5.3 billion reached in January.
Since November of last year, when investor withdrawal requests reached a predetermined 5% of BREIT’s net asset value, Blackstone has been exercising its right to restrict investor withdrawals. BREIT is marketed primarily to high-net-worth individuals.
President Jonathan Gray affirmed during last month’s earnings call that Blackstone expects to continue dealing with investor redemptions because some BREIT investors are making larger withdrawal requests in anticipation of a reduction in size.
He added that the company anticipates eliminating the inventory of unfulfilled requests over time.