The stock price of Blackstone (NYSE: BX) continues to languish, close to an all-time low. No doubt, Wall Street knows that the private equity game has gone into a deep freeze.
Yet Blackstone has been around since the 1980s and certainly understands how to deal with market cycles. Right now, the firm is looking at distressed investing opportunities as well as deals in emerging markets.
And there's something else, though it hasn't gotten much buzz: Blackstone is getting traction with its investment banking division, according to a piece in FinancialNews.com.
In fact, Blackstone is a financial advisor for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) on its $44.6 billion buyout offer for Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). This is definitely a marquee assignment – and could be a nice fee generator. Blackstone is also an advisor to Reuters in its merger with Thomson.
So why the success in investment banking? Well, Blackstone has been aggressive with recruiting, which could get easier as various financial firms restructure their operations due to bad investment portfolios.
Something else: Blackstone has built strong relationships with many companies over the years. And it helps that the firm has a tremendous amount of investment capital to get deals done.
This is not to say that Blackstone is poised for a big comeback. But, if history is any indication, the firm is looking for long-term growth opportunities to expand the franchise, which actually can be easier when the market environment is rough.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-17-2008 @ 5:22AM
Orca said...
First ever entry on BX last Friday @16,52. Not planning an additional entry at this point. Position is 50% $-short (I am a European) and at this level is more or less a high-dividend yielding long term call. No predetermined stoploss, idea is to let it run a couple of years regardless of price, but will monitor news closely.