Blackstone Pursues $7B Rio Tinto Power Assets and $10B IntraFi Sale as $1.3B Apartment Loan Hits Special Servicing

Blackstone is competing with Australia's IFM Investors to acquire Rio Tinto's power assets, which are valued at approximately $7 billion, according to the Australian Financial Review. A deal would mark a significant infrastructure bet for Blackstone at a moment when the firm is also pursuing a major financial-services exit: Reuters reported that Blackstone and Warburg Pincus are exploring a sale of IntraFi, the bank deposit network, at a valuation of more than $10 billion.

On the credit side, a $1.3 billion CMBS loan backed by Blackstone-sponsored multifamily properties has moved to special servicing after missing its maturity date. The loan was originally secured by 21 apartment communities, and Blackstone was able to sell 15 of those assets before the transfer, leaving 6 properties now in the hands of the special servicer. The development underscores that Sun Belt apartment stress is not confined to smaller syndicators.

Heading into Q3 earnings, sentiment on Blackstone's stock is subdued. Shares have drifted near 52-week lows even as the company reported 26% year-over-year distributable earnings growth and a record $1.35 trillion in AUM in Q2. The valuation has compressed to roughly 14.5 times FY2027 consensus EPS, pushing the dividend yield close to 4.84%. Analysts have cut Q3 estimates 13 times, setting a low bar, while management has guided for a realization slowdown in the quarter but reaffirmed strong fee and infrastructure growth targets for 2027.

Separately, investor skepticism toward AI infrastructure spending has clouded Blackstone's data-center exposure. South Korea's Elice Inc., an AI cloud provider compared to CoreWeave, plunged 32% on its Kosdaq debut after raising 201 billion won in the country's largest IPO of the year, pricing at 90,500 won per share before falling to 61,400 won. The collapse is part of a broader October pattern in which three data-center IPOs backed by Nvidia, Blackstone, and SoftBank have been shelved or failed, as investors question the sustainability of heavy capital expenditure in the sector.