Blackstone Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman said the investment giant is in talks with several US regional banks to explore purchases of assets and loans they originate.
“Pressure on those regional banks won’t just come from the markets,” he said in a video interview Wednesday for the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. “It will come from regulators, and that will make them less apt to provide credit.”
Regional banks’ retreat from lending to swaths of the economy, Schwarzman said, will make Blackstone a beneficiary and natural partner. “We see an opportunity for firms like Blackstone to fill that void,” he said.
Blackstone, which oversees almost $1 trillion, is the world’s largest alternative-asset manager and a growing nonbank provider of financing.
Schwarzman, 76, added that Middle Eastern sovereign funds have “revolutionized capital” in channeling their vast pools of money to myriad investment projects. The wealthy Republican donor kept mum about which presidential candidate he would support in 2024, saying it’s too early.
By Dawn Lim / Bloomberg
