Blackstone Expects More Distressed Property Acquisitions in U.S.

Blackstone Group LP, the biggest private-equity firm, expects more deals in distressed U.S. commercial real estate and says European banks starting to sell troubled property assets present a “sizable” opportunity.

“In the U.S. today I think it’s still a fairly target-rich environment because a lot of assets need to be recapitalized, fixed,” Jonathan Gray, a co-head of the firm’s real estate business, said today at a conference in New York. “The fundamentals are getting better. We still have headwinds because of the economy not growing as fast as it should be, but overall I think it’s better than people expect.”