Blackstone Group reported a record $449.6 billion in assets under management as of March 31, a 3.6% increase from Dec. 31 and up 22% year-over-year, according to the alternative investments firm's earnings report Thursday.
Blackstone partially attributed the firm's AUM growth to the firm recording $112.2 billion of inflows for the year ended March 31. Inflows were $18.2 billion in the quarter. By comparison, inflows were $62.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $14 billion in the quarter ended March 31, 2017.
"Amid declining global markets and a sharp increase in volatility, Blackstone continued to protect and grow our investors' capital in the first quarter, delivering strong outperformance across strategies," said Stephen A. Schwarzman, Blackstone chairman and CEO, in the earnings report.
Blackstone deployed $10.1 billion and $49 billion in capital for the quarter and year ended March 31, respectively.
In terms of AUM, Blackstone's credit business is now its largest, with $140 billion in assets as of March 31, up 1.4% from Dec. 31 and up 50% year-over-year.
Meanwhile, Blackstone's real estate business had $119.6 billion in AUM, up 3.7% from the end of the fourth quarter and up 17% from a year earlier. Private equity AUM totaled $111.4 billion, up 5.5% from Dec. 31 and an 11.7% increase from March 31, 2017.
Hedge fund AUM totaled $78.7 billion, up 4.8% from Dec. 31 and a 7.4% increase from a year earlier.
Across its investment segments, Blackstone earned $736 million in management and advisory fees in the first quarter, compared to $732.4 million in the fourth quarter and $649.6 billion in the quarter ended March 31, 2017. Performance fees were $910.5 million in the first quarter, compared to $992.8 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31 and $1.03 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Investment income accounted for $42.7 million, compared to $55.7 million for the three months ended Dec. 31 and $104 million in the year-over-year quarter.
GAAP net income was $842 million for the quarter and $3.2 billion over the past 12 months. By comparison, GAAP net income was $763 million in the fourth quarter and $1 billion for the first quarter of 2017. Net income was $3.4 billion for the year ended Dec. 31.
