UC Regent Hernandez Approaches Right Question on BREIT
The Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust (BREIT) was experiencing a run on the bank. The University of California (UC) already had $2 billion in BREIT at the time. UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Bachhar said he heard about the run on the news and offered $4 billion (and a later $0.5 billion) to BREIT in exchange for a "guaranteed" return of 11.25%. When the matter was brought up to the UC Regents in January 2023, the discussion focused on whether BREIT was a good landlord and not on the investment risks - financial and legal - potentially involved, although the Regents have a fiduciary responsibility for pension and endowment funds. The same thing largely occurred at the March Regents meeting except for a question by Regent Jose Hernandez at the end of the discussion. Bachhar then said he would discuss the matter with Hernandez "offline," i.e., after the public meeting.