Blackstone to Manage Over $2 Billion of Merrill Lynch Asia Real Estate Assets

The Blackstone Group BX today announced that it had closed on an agreement to manage Bank of America Merrill Lynch's MER Asian real estate assets and to act as the new general partner for the Merrill Lynch Asian Real Estate Opportunity Fund. Since acquiring Merrill Lynch, Bank of America has made the decision that the Merrill Lynch real estate assets in Asia are not core to its strategy for the region. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.