Investing.com -- Blackstone Inc is looking to sell more than $2 billion of stakes it holds in private investment funds, the Financial Times reported Monday.

The New York-based alternative asset manager is marketing a collateralized fund obligation that would package stakes in leveraged buyout funds into bonds for sale to investors, including insurers, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The transaction would generate cash for investors in a fund run by Blackstone Strategic Partners, the company's unit that invests in other private equity groups' funds.

Blackstone could still decide not to proceed with the securitization and may instead seek a secondary sale of the stakes, the report added.

The potential sale comes as private equity firms face challenges exiting investments and returning cash to investors, with the buyout industry holding about $4 trillion of unsold assets, the FT reported.

Private equity groups are facing particular difficulty offloading investments made between 2020 and 2022 when interest rates were near zero, according to the FT.