Blackstone is expanding its private credit business by hiring two experienced credit professionals, Andie Goh and Jack Ervasti, to handle investment-grade deals. Joining from Ares Management and KKR, the new hires will focus on asset-based debt, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Goh, who most recently worked at Ares managing asset-based deals across both private and public markets, will begin her new role in early January. Meanwhile, Ervasti, who previously served as co-head of consumer asset-backed debt at KKR, joined Blackstone earlier this month.
Both Goh and Ervasti will take on managing director roles at BXCI, Blackstone’s credit and insurance division, based in New York.
The move comes as private credit is shifting beyond corporate lending toward higher-quality, asset-backed credits, with Blackstone having been significantly increasing its presence in the investment-grade credit market of late. BXCI, led by Gilles Dellaert, currently manages more than $350bn in assets and aims to grow its total credit assets to $1tn in the next decade.
The platform overseeing infrastructure and asset-based credit, led by Robert Horn and managing over $80bn in assets, plays a key part in BXCI’s growth strategy, having made several important hires to support its expansion this year.
Blackstone’s credit division has become the firm’s largest business within its $1.1tn portfolio as of the quarter ending 30 September, surpassing real estate as the top-performing unit. The firm has also reclassified part of its real estate lending business under its credit division.
In addition to its credit initiatives, Blackstone made strides in infrastructure and energy this year, acquiring a $1bn portfolio of infrastructure loans from Banco Santander and investing $288m in energy storage and solar company Pine Gate Renewables.
