Blackstone closes world's largest private equity fund with $15.6 bln

The Blackstone Group announced yesterday the closing of its latest global private equity fund, Blackstone Capital Partners V (BCP V), with total commitments of $15.6 billion, creating the world's largest private equity fund. BCP V will be invested across a range of sectors and geographical locations. Blackstone Group's private-equity business has investments in 45 portfolio companies with combined annual revenue of more than $72 billion. Several significant investments have already been committed to the Manhattan-based private-equity firm, including VNU N.V. (Netherlands), Encore Medical Corporation (USA), Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited (India) and Deutsche Telekom A.G. (Germany), with a total enterprise value of approximately $30 billion. The combined equity participation in these seven transactions already accounts for more than 25% of the new fund's available capital. Since The Blackstone Group started its private equity investment business in 1987, the firm has raised a total of more than $63 billion for alternative asset investing making it the world's largest independent alternative asset manager. Blackstone's private equity business currently has investments in 45 portfolio companies with combined annual revenues in excess of $72 billion employing approximately 350,000 people around the globe.