The Chinese government will invest $500 million with a real estate private equity fund managed by the Blackstone Group, the Wall Street Journal reported. China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) is looking to earn larger returns, the paper said, and had been shopping for private equity investments amid the low-yields offered by U.S. treasury bonds, in which SAFE is highly invested.
Blackstone is the largest private equity fund in the world, with $48 billion under management.
The last time SAFE pumped funds into private equity it took huge losses, in 2008, when Washington Mutual bank failed. That fund was run by TPG Capital. [WSJ] — Guelda Voien