National Real Estate Investor
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg)—Blackstone Group Inc. is closing a real estate fund that used leverage to load up on commercial mortgage backed securities, investments that have slumped during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Blackstone Real Estate Income Master Fund, with about $1.1 billion of total investments at year-end, including those purchased with leverage, will sell the assets and distribute the proceeds to shareholders, the company said in a regulatory filing this week. Its net assets have declined from almost $773 million at year-end to $553 million as of May 31.

The fund suffered a 24% decline in March as markets swooned. It had generated an average annual return of 5.52% over five years through 2019.

CMBS delinquencies in the U.S. surged to 3.59% in June from 1.46% in May, the largest month-over-month increase on record, according to Fitch Ratings. With consumers staying home and shopping online, hotels and mall-based retailers are missing mortgage and rent payments.

“An orderly wind down” would provide shareholders with the “best path to maximize portfolio recovery” while also getting them some cash, Blackstone said in the filing late Monday. The funds recently built a strong cash position “and have begun to see a recovery in pricing since the recent trough related to the outbreak of Covid-19,” the firm said. As of May 31, almost 10% of the fund's net assets were in cash, according to company documents. Read more.