Blackstone Group to go Public

Posted by Kirk Lindstrom Mar 22, 2007

The Blackstone Group started in 1985 with a staff of four that included its two founders, Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A Schwarzman who put up $200,000 each to start the company.

They have been very secretive about their returns but reports say since its inception in 1987:

• The flagship corporate private equity portfolio returned 30.8% annually
• Their real estate portfolio returned 38.2% since 1991.
• Investments in funds of hedge funds have returned 13%
• Investments in funds of mezzanine debt have returned 16%

Web site http://www.blackstone.com

From the web site,

• Since 1985, without deviating from Blackstone's core beliefs, the firm has raised more than $64 billion for alternative asset investing across its Private Equity, Real Estate, Corporate Debt, Distressed Debt, and Marketable Alternative Investments groups. The Corporate Advisory Services and Restructuring & Reorganization Advisory Services businesses have handled assignments valued at over $550 billion.
• Through June 30, 2006, Blackstone had invested total capital of $24.1 billion in 318 transactions with a total enterprise value of over $198 billion through its Private Equity, Real Estate, and Mezzanine funds and over $5.1 billion across 439 different senior loan and other debt instruments through its Corporate Debt funds.

More about the deal

• Morgan Stanley and Citigroup will be the lead underwriters
• Blackstone says it will list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange

Kirk Lindstrom: Disclaimers: Answers & my words are general in nature, are not meant as specific investment advice, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of anyone but Kirk.