Blackstone announced the final close of the first series of its evergreen institutional U.S. direct lending fund, Blackstone Senior Direct Lending Fund (“BXD”). Blackstone has closed on approximately $22 billion of investable capital for the inaugural series of BXD and related vehicles, including anticipated leverage, exceeding our $10 billion target. This brings Blackstone’s global direct lending platform to over $123 billion in assets under management as of the third quarter.

“This capital raise reflects our long-term strength in private credit, our global reach across corporates and sponsor-led transactions, and our ability to add value to the companies with which we partner,” said Brad Marshall, Global Head of Private Credit Strategies at Blackstone Credit & Insurance (“BXCI”). “We believe our scale and breadth of solutions position us extremely well during what we expect to be an active transaction environment with declining rates.”

BXCI deployed or committed $40 billion in direct lending through the third quarter, more than double the total for all of 2023. This includes lead roles in some of the largest deals of the year with CoreWeave ($7.5B), Squarespace ($2.7B), Fidelis ($2B), and Davies (£1.5B), as well as recent proprietary middle-market transactions for Permira’s Acuity Knowledge Partners ($600M), Graham Partners’ Gatekeeper Systems ($550M), and publicly listed Loar ($360M), where BXCI served as the sole lender.

“Our global platform gives us strength in both the traditional middle-market and growing opportunity set for larger deals available to few others,” added Gilles Dellaert, Global Head of BXCI. “Investors and borrowers continue to recognize the benefits that private capital can provide in direct lending and across the broader credit markets.”

Source: Blackstone