Blackstone Group reported a first-quarter loss in 2020, the victim of a market selloff inspired by growing fear over the coronavirus outbreak. But the private equity firm’s property holdings did relatively well, including its $160.9bn in logistics holdings (roughly a third of its entire real estate portfolio). It was a marginal decline from the last quarter of 2019, but was 14.7 percent up from a year ago. In an earnings calls, company officials said the firm’s hotel and retail sectors had been the worst hit by the pandemic as the assets had been hit by substantial markdowns. Fortunately, they pointed out, those sectors make up just 15 percent of the company’s global real estate portfolio. Blackstone’s core real estate funds lost just 3.9 percent in value.
