Blackstone has acquired a minority stake in middle market private equity firm GI Partners.
The investment by Blackstone (NYSE: BX) was made through its Strategic Capital Holdings Fund which is part of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), the firm’s hedge fund business which specializes in acquiring stakes in alternative asset managers.
GI Partners makes control equity investments in companies with enterprise values of $250 million to $1 billion that are active in the IT infrastructure, healthcare, software, and services sectors. The firm also invests in real estate. In November 2017, the firm held a final closing of GI Partners Fund V LP at an oversubscribed and hard cap of $2.8 billion. GI Partners was founded in 2001 and is based in San Francisco (www.gipartners.com).
“This investment is a testament to the strength of the people and processes which have driven our success over the last two decades,” said Rick Magnuson, founder and executive managing director of GI Partners. “We look forward to leveraging the partnership with Blackstone as we continue to grow and diversify the business for the benefit of our investors.”
“Under Rick’s leadership, GI Partners has established itself as a leading firm in middle-market private equity and real estate investing,” said Scott Soussa, the head of BAAM’s strategic capital group. “Their differentiated sourcing capabilities and strong operating expertise have led to sustained success since their founding and position the firm well for continued growth.”
BAAM has approximately $79 billion in assets under management and operates a special situations platform, a hedge fund seeding business, an open-ended mutual fund platform and a business that purchases stakes in established alternative asset managers. Click HERE for the BAAM website.
Evercore (www.evercore.com) was the financial advisor to GI Partners and Kirkland & Ellis (www.kirkland.com) provided legal services. Simpson Thacher (www.stblaw.com) was the legal advisor to Blackstone.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | March 7, 2019
