Blackstone's biggest hedge fund business returned 12% in 2025, sources say

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Blackstone's BX.N biggest hedge fund platform, Absolute Return Composite (AR), returned nearly 12% last year, beating the benchmark HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index's 7.1% gain, two people familiar with the numbers said on Wednesday.

Blackstone, the world's biggest alternative asset manager with $1.2 trillion in assets, will report fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on Thursday, including returns for its multi-asset investing BXMA unit that oversees the Absolute Return Composite platform.

In the fourth quarter AR, which makes up the bulk of BXMA's $93 billion in assets, returned 3.9% after fees, beating the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index's 1.4% return, said the sources who are not permitted to discuss the returns publicly.

Positive returns in equities, computer-driven investing, credit and macro bets boosted AR's returns, the people said. AR has delivered 33 straight months of positive net performance.

A Blackstone representative declined to comment.

Founded some 30 years ago, AR is BXMA's biggest business unit and is run by David Ben-Ur and reports to Joe Dowling, who oversees all BXMA strategies.

Dowling, who joined Blackstone five years ago from Brown University's endowment fund, has overhauled the portfolio by shifting where assets are allocated and improving its risk metrics. As he reordered the business to invest more broadly in alternatives instead of primarily allocating capital in a fund of hedge funds, Blackstone renamed the unit Blackstone Multi-Asset Investing from Blackstone Alternative Asset Management.