The owner of HI Partner, Blackstone's North American fund, owner of hotels from the Lopesan management company such as former IFA, Dunas, Barceló Margaritas and the HolidayWorld theme park in the south of Gran Canaria, are in crisis because Asian investors are making a comeback, generating financial solidity problems. Given Blackstone's status in the tourism industry, the rise in withdrawal requests has drawn attention to the complexity of packaging highly illiquid assets, such as real estate or private credit, into funds that offer cash back when investors want it, up to a limit.
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (Breit) has been dealing with a surge of investors pulling money out, especially from Asia. Its rival Starwood Real Estate Income Trust (Sreit) has also seen a rise in withdrawal requests. In recent weeks, both real estate trusts have limited redemptions.
That led the North American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), since its headquarters is in the US, to communicate with the fund. The American regulator is trying to understand the market impact and circumstances of these decisions, and asked how firms complied with refunds and whether affiliates sold before customers. The investigations are no indication that either company is under investigation or has committed any crime.
After years of courting a broader audience, private equity firms are now bracing for a cooling of retail influx that brought the industry fresh money and profits. Investors, regulators and the public are also taking a closer look at its push to reach smaller investors.
On the other hand, the Bank of England raised interest rates by half a percentage point this December, moderating the pace of increases as Britain prepares for a prolonged recession with inflation devouring household budgets while official messages in the south of Gran Canaria they speak entirely of British people.
The central bank predicted that the British economy is already in recession and that inflation has peaked. Consumer prices rose 10,7 percent in November from a year earlier, data released Wednesday showed. That was down slightly from 11,1 percent in October, the highest annual rate since 1981. Even as Britain faces a challenging economic outlook, most of the bank's nine-member rate-setting committee said they expected it to rise. They will need further increases in interest rates to bring inflation back to the bank's target of 2 percent.
