One of the world's most prominent players in private market investing – now a hot area – talks about its ambitions to engage even more with wealth management. It announced third-quarter financial figures yesterday.

At a time when private market investing is a hot topic for policymakers as well as family offices and wealth managers, one of the top players in the field, Blackstone, has reported a slip in in third-quarter net income to $1.236 billion from $1.564 billion. However, it generated generated distributable earnings of $1.9 billion in the quarter, rising by almost 50 per cent year over year.

The US-listed private markets/alternative investments powerhouse also spelled out growth in the private wealth space and the work it does with RIAs and other organizations in the wealth sector.

The firm’s private wealth platform has risen threefold in AuM terms over the past five years to $290 billion, it said yesterday.

“Looking forward, we expect 2026 to be our busiest year yet in terms of product launches, with a significant focus on multi-asset opportunities. We're also broadening distribution in several major markets around the world, and moving deeper into key sub-channels, including the RIA channel,” John Gray, president and chief operating officer of Blackstone, said in a presentation. 

“With these developments alongside our strategic alliance with Wellington and Vanguard, our partnership with L&G in the UK wealth and retirement markets, and the massive potential in the US-defined contribution channel over time, the opportunity in private wealth continues to expand for Blackstone,” he said. 

The firm is riding a wave of widening access to private markets – as seen by the Trump administration’s decision to let these assets be held in 401(k) retirement plans, as well as the adjustment to the Accredited Investor regime this year. (There have been skeptical voices on all this.) Blackstone has rolled out what are called “evergreen” or "perpetual” funds that are open ended, cutting out the usual exit points, capital calls and other features of closed-ended funds. Such a move is designed to encourage affluent/HNW individuals to enter the space, previously confined to the wealthiest private clients.

Blackstone, along with peers such as Carlyle, KKR and others, is pushing harder at the private wealth market as a distribution channel. Part of the reason – as this news service heard at a recent Bloomberg investment conference in London – is that large institutional investors are fully allocated and waiting for distribution on investments before committing fresh capital.

The private markets space has challenges. Policymakers, such as the International Monetary Fund, are concerned about exposures in the private credit area. Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund, said a week ago that the potential risk from private credit “keeps me awake every so often at night...We know that the non-banking financial institutions do not enjoy the same level of regulatory oversight as banks do.” Concerns about the $3 trillion sector have been sparked by the collapse of US subprime auto lender Tricolor, and auto parts supplier First Brands. In April 2024 the IMF said the sector poses risks but they are not systemic. In its third-quarter results this week, UK-listed Barclays reported an impairment from Tricolor. This news service recently spoke to the Luxembourg funds sector about how it views potential volatility in the private credit space.

 Blackstone recently hired former Lazard Asset Management senior figure Jen Abate to be head of the RIA channel in the firm's Private Wealth team. She leads efforts to grow and deepen relationships with RIAs, multi-family offices, and independent wealth management platforms.

Raising the marketing profile
Gray said Blackstone is looking at changing how it markets and brands what it does.

“Doing advertising, I think, for us will be targeted. Obviously, we're pretty focused on who we're talking to in private wealth, financial advisors, and customers who these products are appropriate for,” he said. “So, I think you will see us with a broader footprint over time. It makes sense as we grow to hundreds of thousands of customers. But at the same time, I think we'll do it in a targeted way in markets and in sectors where we think we can have a real impact. What's promising is just the growth in the private wealth area. The fact that we had this doubling in fundraising in the third quarter, year-over-year, and that the number of products we have, it's very promising. So, when we look out, we love our positioning in this space. And yes, we're going to do it on a global basis. And yes, it will involve a little more advertising versus what we've done historically.”

Gray cited a recent Goldman Sachs research report that said Blackstone has a 50 per cent share of all private wealth revenue among nine major alternative firms. 

Results
Blackstone said fee-earning assets under management have risen 10 per cent year-on-year to $906.2 billion; total AuM rose 12 per cent to $1.24 trillion. Perpetual capital under management stands at $500 billion; the firm logged inflows of $54.2 billion in Q3 and logged realizations on investments of $30.6 billion in the quarter.

Within the AuM mix, credit and insurance made up the largest lump, at $432.3 billion, followed by private equity ($395.6 billion) and real estate ($320.5 billion), and multi-asset ($93.3 billion). The firm also has a total of $188 billion of dry powder – uncommitted capital – for future investments.

It appears that investors want to see more progress at Blackstone; shares in the group have fallen 10.8 per cent since the start of January.

RIA sector growth
Blackstone continues to target RIAs as an important distribution channel.

“The RIA channel is very large, but it's harder to access…One of the advantages we have as a firm is having 300-plus people on the ground, and that enables us to go out there and talk to people. And I think for us, we recently brought in a new senior person to run that area for us, and we're really trying to do a concentrated outreach,” Gray said.

“We did create an interval product in multi-asset credit, which was our first real interval product, which we launched in the RIA channel specifically. So, I think for us, it's about going after it…And again, given the track record of our products, the performance we've delivered, the strength of our brand, if we put the right resources on the ground, I think we can build big relationships and large AuM in the RIA channel. So, I think that's an area of major opportunity for us,” Gray added.