Blackstone’s Pre-Covid-19 Portfolio Shifts Have Turned Out Well
The investment firm boosted exposure in hot industrial-space category and shifted out of retail and traditional office space.
January 19, 2021 | Peter Grant | The Wall Street Journal
The pandemic has slammed some of the major property types, but changes that Blackstone Group Inc. made to its real-estate portfolio over time have helped the investment firm navigate through the fallout.
In the years before Covid-19 hit, Blackstone altered its property mix based on changes taking place in the economy and technologies. While investors at the firm weren’t preparing for a pandemic, their moves to gradually reduce exposure to certain real-estate categories have since served them well.
Retail and lodging, for example, have been the two hardest-hit commercial-property types during the pandemic, as travel nosedived and consumers migrated to online shopping with many stores closed or limiting capacity because of Covid-19.
