(Sept 19): Blackstone Inc, one of the largest asset managers in the world, sees Asia as a “growth engine,” according to Amit Dixit, the firm’s head of private equity for the region.

“We see a lot of bright spots,” Dixit said in an interview with Bloomberg Television, adding the firm has been active in India, Japan, Australia and Southeast Asia. “We have deep local teams in each market.” The interest-rate easing in the US is also helping the business globally, he said on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Asia Summit 2024 in Singapore. 

In India, where the firm holds about US$50 billion (RM211.7 billion) worth of private equity investments and real estate, Blackstone has “scale” and is among the top investors, according to Dixit. Blackstone’s ability to execute proprietary and complex transactions in the country means it can get more reasonable pricing, despite rising valuations across sectors.

One important thing to consider when investing in India is the currency’s ongoing depreciation, Dixit said later in a panel discussion at the Milken event. “We price in 3% per annum,” he said, “because it’s happened for 75 years.”

Blackstone focuses on areas in India where it has a competitive advantage, such as commercial real estate and information technology services, he said.

Talks to sell a minority stake in VFS Global are making good progress in Singapore, Dixit said. The city-state’s investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte is nearing a deal to buy a significant minority stake in the visa outsourcing and technology services firm that could value it at about US$7 billion, including debt, Bloomberg News has reported.

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