(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Inc. President Jon Gray said his $684 billion investment firm has been selling assets to take advantage of liquid markets.
“Markets around the world have been pretty strong,” for stabilized assets, Gray said Tuesday at the Bloomberg Invest Global virtual conference. While it’s generally an opportune time to exit some investments, Gray made clear he doesn’t think this is necessarily “the top of this market.”
Grey echoed comments from Bruce Flatt, Brookfield Asset Management Inc.’s chief executive officer, who said earlier at the conference that it’s a “very good time” to be liquidating assets following a slow period last year during the depths of the coronavirus pandemic.
With the Federal Reserve getting close to slowing its bond-buying program, long-term rates may go up, which would put pressure on prices, Gray said. The best assets to own are businesses that have big potential for growth.
“What you don’t want to own is long-duration fixed income, because there you’re more vulnerable,” he said. “There’s no place to hide.”
Blackstone is focused on benefitting from changes in the global economy. The world’s largest alternative-asset manager has investing in industries including entertainment, health care and education.
Flatt said his firm has gotten rid of some assets in the first and second quarters and will continue selling this year.
“It’s not like we think that it’s the only thing to be doing, because we’re buying a lot of things too,” Flatt said. There was a period of six to nine months when there wasn’t much selling, he said, adding that now there are opportunities in infrastructure, renewables, private equity and real estate.
The situation is going back to “somewhere where we were before,” with people starting to return to the office and businesses getting back to normal, he said.
By Heather Perlberg
