Blackstone is struggling to raise money for the massive, Saudi-backed infrastructure fund it trumpeted last year

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Why aren't investors jumping at Steve Schwarzman's Saudi-backed infrastructure fund?

• Blackstone Group is struggling to raise money for its massive infrastructure fund in partnership with Saudi Arabia, according to The New York Times.
• The firm was targeting a $40 billion fund, half-backed by the Saudi government, but it has struggled to raise the other $20 billion in matching funds.
• To date, Blackstone has only raised $575 million of the match amount, less than 3% of what it was targeting.

Private-equity giant Blackstone Group is struggling to raise money for the massive, Saudi-backed infrastructure fund that the firm unveiled last May, according to a report by Kate Kelly and Andrew Ross Sorkin in The New York Times.

Blackstone unveiled the $40 billion fund for US infrastructure projects amid President Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia last year. The Saudi Public Investment Fund pledged to front half the target investment - $20 billion - while Blackstone was supposed to raise an equal amount elsewhere.

Since then, Blackstone has missed two deadlines and only raised $575 million, or less than 3%, of the amount it agreed to raise, according to the Times. In the short-term, the firm is now reportedly targeting to raise a total of $15 billion.

The fundraising effort has been met with hesitancy by investors as well as disagreement with Saudi officials over the formation of an investment committee. Blackstone told the times its relationship with the country has "never been stronger."

Read the full story at The New York Times.