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(Reuters) – Blackstone (NYSE:BX) Inc said on Thursday its first-quarter distributable earnings jumped 63% as a strong performance from its real estate and credit businesses offset a weak showing from its hedge funds unit.
The world’s largest manager of alternative assets saw distributable earnings, which represent the cash used to pay dividends to shareholders, rise to $1.9 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier.
That resulted in distributable earnings per share of $1.55, which exceeded an average estimate of $1.06 per share from analysts estimates compiled by Refinitiv.
Blackstone said it generated $23.2 billion in proceeds from asset divestments across its portfolio. That included the sale of its majority stake in medical services provider Apria Healthcare to Owens & Minor (NYSE:OMI) Inc in a $1.6 billion take-private deal.
During the quarter, Blackstone spent $22.8 billion on new acquisitions, including its $6.4 billion takeover of Australian casino operator Crown Resorts and a $5.8 billion deal to take real estate income trust Preferred Apartment Communities (NYSE:APTS) Inc private.
For its quarterly fund performance, Blackstone said its real estate opportunistic and core plus funds appreciated by 10.3% and 7.9%. Its private credit funds gained 1.7% while its private equity portfolio rose 2.8%. That compares with a decline of nearly 5% for the benchmark S&P 500 index.
Blackstone said earnings at its hedge funds unit, the world’s largest, fell to $110.8 million, down from $157 million a year earlier, driven partly by lower management fees and performance revenues.
Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Blackstone reported a net income of $1.22 billion, down 30% from $1.75 billion a year earlier owing to an uptick in compensation expenses and a slowdown in investment income.
Total assets under management rose to a record $915 billion, driven by strong fundraising and bringing Blackstone closer to its goal of managing $1 trillion in assets this year. Unspent capital stood at $139.3 billion.
Blackstone declared a quarterly dividend of $1.32 per share, compared with $0.82 per share in the same quarter last year.
