Blackstone Bets Billions on Reopening and Travel Revival

Blackstone Team Inc. is doubling down on a put up-Covid 19 financial restoration, investing heavily in companies that will reward from a entire world that is progressively reopening.

New York-based Blackstone invested $17.7 billion in the 1st 3 months of the yr, shopping for lodges which include Prolonged Continue to be America Inc., personal-jet operator Signature Aviation Plc and U.K. travel organization Bourne Leisure. Investors ongoing to bet solidly on Blackstone, which noticed its property below management swell to a record $648.8 billion, the company stated Thursday in an earnings report.

Even as credit score markets recovered and the inventory current market stored soaring, journey- and amusement-associated belongings were struggling as men and women ongoing social distancing and area limitations constrained potential at accommodations and other venues. Blackstone states the firm is now looking at indicators across its portfolio of businesses that people’s behavior is shifting: At the Cosmopolitan hotel of Las Vegas, cash heading into slot machines was at file amounts. Forward bookings for vacation in the U.K. have been also at a substantial.