The latest offerings in investments, such as funds and structured products, and other notable developments.

Blackstone Group
Blackstone Group, the alternative assets manager, has closed its first-ever growth equity fund at $4.5 billion. The entity, called Blackstone Growth, drew commitments from a range of family offices, high net worth individuals and various institutions. 

The US-listed firm said this is the largest first-time growth equity private fund raised in history.

Blackstone Group focuses on providing capital to entrepreneurs seeking to minimize the execution risks associated with high-growth environments, the firm said in a statement last Friday. 

Investments made by the fund include stakes in the online dating company Bumble - which recently held an IPO, as well as oat milk pioneer, Oatly; enterprise software business, ISN, and and Epidemic Sound, which delivers restriction-free music to internet content creators.

The fund’s managers think BXG’s “concentrated approach to portfolio construction, which focuses on a far more curated number of companies than what is typical of growth equity firms, will allow it to deliver more significant operational value to the individual companies in which it invests.”

Managers for the fund are based in London and San Francisco. In total, Blackstone oversees a total of $619 billion in assets under management.

Lexington Partners
Lexington Partners last week said it held the final close of Lexington Co-Investment Partners V, LP and associated vehicles, raising a total of $3.2 billion in committed capital. The fund beat its initial target of $3.0 billion.

CIP V will build co-investments alongside private equity sponsors, mainly in the US and European companies. In addition, CIP V may co-invest opportunistically in companies in Asia and Latin America.  CIP V started investing in September 2020, Lexington said in a statement. 

CIP V received commitments from 13 large institutional investors based in the US, Europe, Latin America, and Australia, with an average commitment size each of $235 million.