US-based alternative asset manager Blackstone is planning to expand its private wealth business into at least two new European markets, the firm has told Reuters.

Blackstone is looking to tap into growing demand amongst the wealthy and has made attracting funds from high net worth individuals a priority amid turbulent market conditions and as private equity companies seek to diversify their client base away from institutional investors.

The firm declined to tell Reuters which new markets it was planning to enter, but the firm’s European wealth business currently has offices in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, and Zurich.

Blackstone’s global private wealth assets have risen to around $250bn, up from $103bn in 2020, representing 23 per cent of Blackstone’s total $1.1trn in assets.

Its wealth products have a minimum investment threshold of $10,000 to $25,000.

The executives told Reuters that France and Italy had been its biggest growth markets in wealth, while growth in Britain was slower going.

Blackstone private wealth solutions group Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) head, Rashmi Madan, told Reuters that although a growing number of high net worth individuals in Britain were moving abroad since the 2016 Brexit vote, Britain was a core market for the wealth business.

To support its European expansion, Blackstone has promoted Sheila Rapple to chief operating officer for EMEA wealth, who has relocated to London from New York.

According to Reuters, Blackstone is pinning its wealth expansion ambitions on a range of semi-liquid evergreen funds designed for retail investors, spanning credit, property, and private equity.

Its products are generally sold to wealthy individuals through partnerships with local banks or wealth managers.

"This is not the United States of Europe,” Madan said to Reuters. “There's much more complexity, and I think [Blackstone] understands that.

However, Madan said that regulatory changes across Europe - including in Britain - to encourage retail investing in private markets were a "positive sign”: "There's a growing change in Europe... that long-term investing is important."

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