January 11, 2024
Ken Kaplan and Lionel Assante promoted to co-chief investment officers at Blackstone
Nadeem Meghji Promoted to Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate
NEW YORK – January 11, 2024 – Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced that Ken Caplan, current Co-Head of Global Real Estate, and Lionel Assant, Head of European Private Equity, have been promoted to the newly created role of Global Co-Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) for Blackstone. They will provide enhanced coordination and oversight of the firm's already rigorous investment process. Nadeem Meghji, Head of Real Estate for the Americas, will succeed Caplan as Global Co-Head of Real Estate, alongside current Global Co-Head Kathleen McCarthy.
These promotions underscore the breadth and continued expansion of the firm's investment strategies as its assets under management (AUM) recently surpassed $1 trillion. The three executives have more than 60 years of combined investment experience at Blackstone and are set to embark on an extremely active period with more than $200 billion in outstanding capital.
Steve Schwarzman, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Blackstone, said: “We are pleased to promote three of our longest-tenured investors to these key roles as we prepare for a period of aggressive investment. They bring their strong track records with our clients, extensive institutional knowledge and exceptional investment acumen to these new roles.”
“The promotions of these highly talented executives will better position the firm to identify compelling global investment themes and will also strengthen our disciplined investment process,” said John Gray, Blackstone's president and chief operating officer.
Assant joined Blackstone in 2003 and has been based in London since 2012, leading the firm's European Private Equity business. He will continue in that role and, as Blackstone's Co-CIO, will work with the business unit CIOs and group heads to provide enhanced entity-level investment oversight across the firm's Private Equity (PE) complex, which includes Corporate PE, Infrastructure, Tactical Opportunities, Growth and Life Sciences businesses.
Mr. Kaplan joined Blackstone in 1997 and led the firm's European Real Estate business from 2012 to 2015, served as Real Estate CIO from 2015 to 2017 and has served as Co-Head of Global Real Estate alongside Mr. McCarthy since 2018. As Co-CIO, Mr. Kaplan will work with the business unit CIOs and group heads to enhance firm-level investment oversight primarily across Real Estate and Credit & Insurance (BXCI).
CIOs across Blackstone will continue to report to their respective business units, including Mike Zawadzki, CIO of Credit and Insurance (BXCI), David Ben-Ur, CIO of BAAM Portfolio Solutions (BPS), and Prakash Melwani, CIO of Corporate Private Equity, who will take on an expanded role as chairman of Blackstone Capital Partners (BCP) International.
Meghji joined Blackstone Real Estate in 2008 and has led the firm's real estate business in the Americas since 2017. He has led significant growth in Blackstone's U.S. and Canadian real estate businesses across Opportunistic (BREP), Institutional and Private Assets Core+ (BPP and BREIT), with over $200 billion in assets under management and approximately $400 billion in total asset value.
The company also announced today the promotion of Geo Cutaia to global chief operating officer of Real Estate, in which he will continue to lead the global real estate asset management division (a role he has held since 2018), and in that role will be responsible for managing more than 12,000 assets in Blackstone's real estate portfolio.
Kathleen McCarthy, global co-head of real estate, said, “Ken is a fantastic leader and I am excited to partner with him and look forward to him continuing to impact our business as our co-CIO. Nadeem's exceptional investment acumen and operational experience make him the ideal leader to succeed Ken and I look forward to partnering with him over the coming years. Nadeem and I are excited to promote Geo Kutaiah, who will play a key role in overseeing this world-class business.”
About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world's largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we operate. We help companies solve problems by leveraging talented people and flexible capital. Our $1 trillion in assets under management includes investments across the globe across private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondaries funds. For more information, visit www.blackstone.com. Follow us on LinkedIn: @blackstone.twitterand Instagram.
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