Blackstone Scraps Impact Fund in ESG Strategy Restructuring (1)

Blackstone Inc. abandoned plans for a dedicated impact fund in a restructuring of its sustainable investing strategy.

Tanya Barnes, hired as a managing director in 2019 to lead the impact platform, departed in recent weeks. The fund struggled to gain footing because it was part of a unit that focused on buying investors’ existing stakes in private equity vehicles, according to a person familiar with the matter. A Blackstone spokeswoman confirmed Barnes’s exit.

“ESG is a major investment theme across the firm,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. “Given the breadth of what we are doing, we decided ...