Blackstone Inc. is in talks with regional banks about forming partnerships where they would make loans that the firm funnels to its insurance clients, the Financial Times reported.
The alternative asset manager is in discussions with lenders with between $100 billion and $250 billion in assets, the FT reported Blackstone President Jon Gray as saying in an interview. He declined to name the lenders involved.
Under Gray’s proposal, the insurers would pay a fee to Blackstone for directing the assets to them, and they would hold the debt to maturity. He said firms like his could help banks offload some of the risk after a loan has been securitized, according to the report.
The collapse of four US regional banks since March has sparked turmoil in the financial sector and increased concerns that lenders may reduce access to credit. Banks reported tighter standards and weaker demand for loans in the first quarter, a Federal Reserve survey showed this week.
Read how Blackstone was among 20 firms that made bids on SVB
Blackstone offers asset management services to large insurers such as American International Group Inc., the FT said. These customers are a natural home for assets that might otherwise stay on banks’ balance sheets, the newspaper reported Gray as saying.
