Massive United States-Saudi Infrastructure Fund Struggles to Get Going - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/business/blackstone-infrastructure-fund-saudi.html
Last May, the private equity firm Blackstone announced that it was creating a $40 billion fund that would invest in infrastructure projects in the United States. The fund’s largest backer was the government of Saudi Arabia, which agreed to kick in half the cash.
Ten months later, the highly anticipated fund has yet to complete an initial round of fund-raising, much less start investing in infrastructure.
Although the Saudis promised to contribute up to $20 billion, Blackstone is required to raise a dollar from other investors for every dollar the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund puts in. So far, only two other investors have publicly committed to the fund, with their contributions totaling $575 million, according to data provider Preqin, which tracks such investments.
In the short term, Blackstone’s goal now is to raise a total of $15 billion — much less than it trumpeted during President Trump’s visit to Riyadh last spring — according to a document posted on the website of a Pennsylvania pension plan that has agreed to invest in the fund.