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Blackstone’s top private equity dealmaker, Joe Baratta, says the market we’re in right now is the most difficult period he’s ever experienced.
“You have historically high multiples of cash flows, low yields. I’ve never seen it in my career. It’s the most treacherous moment,” Baratta said at the WSJ Pro Private Equity Analyst Conference in New York, Bloomberg reports. High valuations, while creating strong conditions to sell, are making it difficult for firms to deploy capital into new assets.
That’s why Blackstone, along with many private equity firms, is selling more than they are buying. But the selling can’t last forever, and Blackstone is getting ready to buy again—the firm finished raising $18B for its largest private equity fund last year. [Bloomberg]
