Unveiling the Future of Dealmaking: A Deep Dive into Blackstone's Performance, Strategy, and Upcoming Opportunities

Private equity giant, Blackstone, is expecting more promising days ahead. This follows several years of subdued net profits from asset sales. However, as Blackstone’s President and COO, Jonathan Gray, divulged during the Q2 2025 earnings call, the industry-wide “dealmaking pause” appears to be in the rearview mirror. Despite its Q2 2025 net realizations only equating to about 63% of 2021 figures, the firm is still optimistic about the imminent turnaround.

A lower interest rates regime, reduced uncertainty, continuous economic growth, and an unquenched appetite for transactive action are stimuli expected to rekindle M&A and IPO activity. It’s worth noting that these challenges weren’t exclusive to Blackstone; diminished deal and exit activity were common themes in the private market landscape. Nevertheless, Blackstone anticipates a swift comeback.

The company is also set to finalize the sale of its 6% interest in Resolution Life, a life insurance firm that benefitted from a $500 million investment in 2022, signaling an essential exit strategy for Blackstone. Moreover, the PE giant surpassed Wall Street predictions with a 20% year-on-year jump in fee-related earnings in Q2, thanks to its continuous capital vehicles.

An overview of the PE giant’s Q2 performance revealed a well-distributed earnings mix across its real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, and multi-asset perpetual funds, accounting for 47% of the firm’s fee-earning assets under management (AUM) during the quarter. With a 13% YoY Increase, total AUM climbed to $52.1 billion. Notably, the contribution from continuous capital vehicles and the closed-ended funds was significant.

Despite the cyclical slowdown in asset realizations, limited partners acknowledge the tremendous advantages of private asset investments. The Blackstone Strategic Partners, the firm’s secondary business, keeps attracting commitments for its fourth infrastructure vehicle, inching towards $5 billion—a significant step-up from its predecessor.