Blackstone Homes In on Lloyds Income

Blackstone has been in talks with Aon to create a Lloyd's syndicate that would earn income for the asset manager (as much as $2bn in premiums a year). 

Aon would effectively direct a certain amount of reinsurance business Blackstone's way - and Blackstone would act as a substitute for a "regular" insurer's balance sheet.  It would back this provision with private equity funds such as Blackstone Private Equity Strategies, or BXPE.

Reinsurers have warned that alternative capital providers (a la Blackstone) could be less durable after large losses. Blackstone already backs policies at Lloyds, but this move would be a broader and more visible shift into the market with Brookfield and Oaktree also looking at expansion into this sector.

Will private capital irrevocably reshape the insurance market? And what impact to financial resilience?

Private Credit in Check as Blackstone Faces Withdrawals

Blackstone, the New York based investment behemoth, faced surging withdrawals in Q1 2026 from BCRED, its flagship $82bn fund. 

Clients pulled $3.7bn though new commitments came in at $2bn, leaving net withdrawals at $1.7bn (a 2% net reduction).

BCRED is the largest fund of its kind that doesn't trade on the market. This is the first quarter it has faced withdrawals. 

Wall Street was also jittery Friday from the collapse of UK mortgage lender Market Financial Solutions Ltd. (MFS)This builds on concerns arising since the collapse of First Brands. Jefferies stock has been hit this year due to exposure to both businesses.

Private credit is a $2tr industry which has grown rapidly over the past decade. Questions over valuation and transparency have hit recently, culminating in impact to BCRED.

Software to Dominate Technology Dealmaking - PwC

The great technology protagonist PwC expects software deals to dominate Tech M&A in 2H23, making up 70% of deals in 1H23. The appeal is the subscription based business model. The next biggest area is IT services, including cybersecurity, DevOps, digital transformation and low code segments.

PE still relishes Tech companies. Some big examples:

• Thoma Bravo's $8bn acquisition of San Mateo based Coupa Software (a business spend management platform which is "more than it seems" having grown through acquisitions, an interesting one being Llamasoft), which closed in February 2023 (Vista Equity Partners, the second-in-line bidder, lost out).

• Acquisition of  events technology company Cvent by Blackstone and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, as well as existing stockholder Vista Equity Partners, for $4.6bn announced in March 2023 and closed in June 2023, leading to removal of its ticker CVT from the Nasdaq. Cvent was founded by legal eagle Reggie Aggarwal in 1999 and went public in 2013. It was subsequently taken private by Vista Equity Partners in 2016 for $1.65bn. It was then "Nasdaq'ed" in December 2021 before the latest take-private initiative from Blackstone.

AI and large language models are an emerging theme following the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, GPT standing for generative pre-trained transformer.

Blackstone Real Estate Buys Out the Bellagio

BREIT (Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust) has formed a joint venture to buy out Bellagio Real Estate for $4.25 billion. The joint venture owns the property and receives rent payments. MGM Resorts will lease back the property and be responsible for all capital expenditures. Blackstone President and COO, Jon Gray, remarked his team were "big believers in MGM Resorts and Las Vegas". JP Morgan was financial advisor to MGM Resorts. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley were finanical advisors to BREIT.