A king is always on acquisition mode to gain power and authority same goes with the Blackstone group. Blackstone Group is aggressively acquiring companies that complement or supplement its current products and services. More acquisitions and mergers are paving a way for Blackstone to become a giant financial service provider across the globe. From starting its journey as a merger and acquisition consultant company in 1985, it has become one of the top-rated financial advisory global companies. Acquiring and spreading its subsidiaries across the world has strengthened its competitive edge. Let us discuss Blackstone latest acquisitions in detail.
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Blackstone latest acquisitions in news
Blackstone’s strategy is to engulf and unite with the companies which will be instrumental in its growth and expansion strategy. This goes without saying, that in this process Blackstone is deemed to become stronger, having a majority stake in various companies. Taking the help of synergy created with these small acquisitions, it started taking over giants which were of equal strength. This further gave it the fuel it wanted to ride the journey. Let us discuss in detail Blackstone’s latest acquisitions, which types of companies were acquired by it, and when.
Global Supply Chain Finance Ltd. (GSCF) is a Swiss company specialized in servicing Supply Chain Finance (SCF) programs with the use of a highly – advanced processing platform. GSCF is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. It deals in receivables financing and payables financing business. It was acquired by Blackstone on September 20, 2020.
- ASK Group
Advent International-backed ASK Group has been acquired by Blackstone with the latter holding a 74% stake in it. ASK Group is a wealth management company. This company is a US company. The acquisition took place on August 24th, 2021. This was one of Blackstone latest parallel acquisitions.
- Hello Sunshine was acquired by a company backed by Blackstone
Hello, Sunshine is a media-based company engaged in providing quality female-based media content. It is also involved in providing female-based content to televisions, ott platforms, social media, etc. This company was acquired by another company that is backed by Blackstone as of August 2, 2021.
- Sphera– Blackstone latest software company acquisitions
Share company located in Chicago is involved in providing risk management software and consulting services. It deals in providing software, data along with advisory services. The acquisition was completed on July 6, 2021.
- Simplilearn – Blackstone latest India acquisitions
Simplilearn is an educational service provider educating people about artificial intelligence, data analysis, cloud computing, machine learning, and many more lessons. Its purpose is to provide educational services and improve people’s skillsets. Blackstone acquired Simplilearn on July 19, 2021, for $250 million. This company is based in India operating from Bangalore. Blackstone found its way to India and acquired this edutech company.
- Chamberlain Group
Blackstone acquired the Chamberlain group on September 7, 2021. It is a global investment firm, dealing in software, data, and consulting services. Blackstone found it worthy to acquire a stake in it to take advantage of the synergy effect. The deal cost around $5 billion.
- VFS Global Group – Blackstone latest acquisitions in India
VSF is a visa processing service provider for $1.1 billion as of October 7, 2021. This company is originally based in India, however, it has gained a global presence with headquarters in Dubai. Blackstone acquired this visa procuring company to diversify its portfolio.
- Spanx – Blackstone latest acquisitions
Spanx is a woman wear brand. It has been acquired by Blackstone on October 20, 2021, for $1.2 billion. This will help Spanx to hold its footprints in the e-commerce, online virtual world and expand its business.
- Nucleus network
This is Blackstone latest acquisitions in the field of healthcare sciences. This company deals in one clinical trial delivery. Located in Australia, the one clinical trial delivery is expected to grow in terms of market share in the near future. Blackstone’s global experience in the life science sector will help this company to expand globally, which in return will help Blackstone in creating a synergy effect. The acquisition was completed on October 29, 2021.
- Fort Knox Self Storage – Blackstone’s latest real estate acquisitions
Fort Knox Self Storage is a self-storage solution provider in Australia. Looking at the increasing demand for self-storage facilities in Australia, Blackstone has acquired this company on November 2, 2021. Growing population and e-commerce are catalysts for the growth of self-storage service demand.
- Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc
Another Blackstone latest real estate acquisitions counts this one. Blackstone wants to capture US rental business market, thus acquired New York-based Bluerock for $3.6 billion as of December 20, 2021. Thus creating the market potential for its real estate business.
- Supergoop
Blackstone latest acquisitions include suncream beauty brand Supergoop. On 23 December 2021, it acquired this brand. It educates consumers to wear SPF to protect their skin. It aims to eradicate skin cancer and provide people with beauty products containing SPF.
13. Servpro
Servpro caters to environmental, reconstruction, disaster management activities. Blackstone latest acquisitions involve acquiring Servpro on March 26, 2019.
How would Blackstone latest acquisitions help?
Blackstone is a well-diversified group adding complementary and supplementary products as well as service lines to its portfolio. This will strengthen it and give it global access. Below are some of the benefits received from these acquisitions and mergers.
- Synergy effect
Blackstone as a group is huge. Acquiring companies and adding them to its list of subsidiaries offers Blackstone a unique advantage of synergy effect. When companies who have mastered a particular business come with hands-on experiences, they tend to give their best practices to you. Though they may have their own weaknesses, which can be easily overcome by using the parent company’s best practices. There comes the synergy effect when the best practices of two companies combine and give multiplied returns. Blackstone latest acquisitions were strategic with the intent to take the best advantage of the synergy effect.
- Global presence
Acquiring companies having multiple locations are bound to create a global presence. Spreading the roots across the globe creates more visibility. It attracts more customers, gives the opportunity to go international across borders. Creating more brand awareness with the ability to export products or services.
- Increase Profit and Revenue
Acquisitions help in bringing in new business ideas to control cost, automate processes, simplify processes, thus increasing overall revenue and profit margins. Best practices in a way work a lot to streamline existing processes. The synergy effect works towards reducing costs while increasing profits. Innovation helps to acquire new customers and meet their challenging demands.
- Competitive edge
Acquiring companies gives a competitive edge to Blackstone. Improving strengths while mitigating risks becomes easier. A well-diversified portfolio strengthens the company’s overall bargaining power. The competitors are always a step back, unable to overtake Blackstone.
- Risk mitigation
Blackstone expanding its business and acquiring companies for its main as well as other business helps in diversification. A diversified portfolio of products and services offers risk mitigation at all levels. Thus, lesser risk gives extra cushion to the company to absorb any shocks. Risk appetite also increases the ability to explore and experiment.
FunFact:
Blackstone is on acquisition mode, but it does remember to sell the stake whenever required. Blackstone recently sold off 9.2% in K Raheja-backed Mindspace Business Parks REIT to sovereign Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for $235 million.
Which of Blackstone latest acquisitions do you know?