Blackstone sees asset base exceeding $500 billion within a year

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blackstone Group LP expects its assets under management (AuM) to exceed half a trillion dollars within the next year, Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman said on Thursday.

"We will begin raising our flagship private equity and real estate funds in the next several months. We expect our fundraising supercycle to bring the firm's total AuM above the $500 billion milestone, likely in the first half of next year," Schwarzman said in an investor call for Blackstone's second-quarter earnings.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)