Blackstone Inc, the biggest manager of private equity and real estate assets, said on Thursday it was discussing partnerships with U.S. regional banks to help them with constraints in areas such as car loans and home improvement financing.
The New York-based firm, which is one of the world's biggest non-bank lenders, said this was a "golden moment" to expand its credit business after banks retrenched in the wake of last month's regional banking crisis.
"As regional banks experienced outflows of deposits, we are seeing real-time opportunities to partner with them at scale," Blackstone President Jonathan Gray said on the firm's first-quarter earnings call.
Gray said some banks which have good relationships with borrowers are struggling to maintain them because of their eroding capital base, and that Blackstone could help them with some of the lending flow.
"The regional banks generally play a very large role in home improvement loans, auto loans and equipment finance. Those are all areas of opportunities... We're in a number of discussions," Gray said. He did not identify the banks Blackstone is speaking to.
Gray's comments came as Blackstone sought to reassure investors on Thursday it would continue to grow despite a slowdown in many pockets of the real estate market, which close to half the firm's earnings have exposure to.
Distributable earnings, which represent the cash used for shareholder dividends, fell to $1.25 billion in the first quarter from $1.94 billion a year earlier, Blackstone reported. That translated to distributable earnings per share of 97 cents, slightly over the average analyst estimate of 96 cents, according to financial data provider Refinitiv.
Blackstone shares were down 0.6% at $91.91 in New York on Thursday morning.
Blackstone has been grappling with redemptions at its flagship real estate income trust (BREIT), prompting it to exercise its right to block investor withdrawals at 5% of the quarterly net asset value of the fund every month since November.
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