Blackstone Q4 distributable earnings drop 42%

Blackstone Group LP, the largest manager of alternative assets such as private equity and real estate, said on Thursday fourth-quarter distributable earnings fell 42 percent from a year earlier to $722 million.

Distributable earnings -- the actual cash available for paying dividends -- per unit came in at 57 cents in the last three months of 2018, compared to $1 per unit a year earlier when earnings were boosted by a windfall from performance fees.

Blackstone said it would pay a quarterly distribution of 58 cents per common unit, slightly ahead of analysts' estimates for 57 cents, according to Refinitiv.