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Hi everybody, I'm Nicola Tangan, the CEO of the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, and today I'm here with John Gray.

Now, John Gray, C-O-O Blackstone, previously the head of real estate here and incredibly under his leadership,

Blackstone's real estate division has become the biggest in the world.

You grew it from some 5 billion to more than 300 billion, and you are known for some of the best

deals in real estate the world has ever seen, such as the Hilton Hotel, which you took off market

and I'm back on the market. And wow, well done. Great to be here with you, Nicolai.

And you're taking off the tie today? I took off the tie because I watched your stuff

and I didn't want to be overdressed. That's great. Now, in short, why has Blackstone been successful?

I think we've been successful for a couple of reasons.

The main one is we've never forgotten what our mission is, which is delivering for our

customers.

And that means delivering premium returns.

If you invest in private markets, instead of liquid markets, we have to deliver a premium.

And because we focused intensely on that

across all our different business units, doesn't mean we've always gotten it right. But that

focus on returns has been so important to our success over time.

In your mind, what's a good business? What are the characteristics? Characteristics of a good

business. It's in a large market that's growing as opposed to a little nichey market.

It's a business that has some moat around it, either a physical moat or something that makes it special, a brand.

And as a result, you have higher margin.

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