Fund bets on Southeast Asia with Singapore office

Blackstone, the world's top alternative asset manager, will seek more investments in Southeast Asia following the opening of a Singapore office seven years after entering the Asia-Pacific region.

The firm, led by chief executive Stephen Schwarzman, has more than US$5 billion in Asian assets, with more than half in real estate. Singapore will be its second office with treasury functions after New York, it says.

"When I was here nine months ago we had only a few people in this office and now it's 35," Schwarzman said at the official opening of the Singapore office on Monday. "At that growth rate we are going to be doing well here in Singapore."

The office, Blackstone's eighth in Asia after cities including Hong Kong, Tokyo, Mumbai and Sydney, will give the New York-based firm its first presence in Southeast Asia, where the economy is forecast by the Asian Development Bank to expand 4.9 per cent this year and 5.3 per cent next year. Private-equity deals in Southeast Asia, excluding Myanmar, have totalled US$9 billion so far this year, compared with US$6 billion last year.

Blackstone's investments in Asia include US$3.05 billion of real estate, including the StarHub business park in Singapore, and US$2.63 billion in private equity.

Hong Kong is the firm's largest office in Asia with about 70 people, according to spokesman Peter Rose. The firm, which has more than 200 employees in the region, also manages US$23 billion on behalf of limited partners in Asia.