Blackstone Group LP’s Jon Gray says the rise in volatility has presented opportunities as the prices of some asset classes like energy have dropped.
“Lots of assets have been repriced, this could be a more interesting investing” environment going forward, Blackstone’s president said at Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead summit in New York Wednesday.
Despite the decline in prices, Gray expects the U.S. economy to continue to grow next year.
“It is possible rising rates slow things down,” he said. The normal signs of what causes a recession -- banks leveraging up, commercial construction out of hand -- aren’t present. “I’d be willing to bet no recession” in 2019.
Blackstone, which has about $457 billion under management, expects to raise its biggest real estate fund ever. Earlier this month, Gray told Bloomberg that deploying capital later in the economic cycle is the single biggest issue for any investment firm in 2019.
Here are more highlights from the interview:
Europe
Gray said growth in Europe is challenged, which means interest rates are likely to stay lower. In the last few weeks, he said, Blackstone announced two large deals in the U.K., where the government is struggling with Brexit.
“In both cases we felt we were able to price in a lower growth environment,” Gray said.
Private Equity