Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Not so long ago The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) was making headlines for founder Steve Schwarzman's 60th birthday party that featured a one million dollar performance by Rod Stewart.

Well now that bubble has burst, the stock has tanked and Blackstone is in the newspaper for sharing Financial Times subscriptions among employees to save on the $99 per year subscription fee. The problem is that the Financial Times is suing. According to The Wall Street Journal,"The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, says a 'senior' Blackstone employee distributed login information for one account to other employees. That account accessed thousands of individual articles from February 2006 to June 2008. The suit describes the use as 'massive' and 'far more than an individual would normally access.'"

Highly unbecoming of the Masters of the Universe, if you ask me.

Blackstone Group sued for sharing login info originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hamilton James, who is Blackstone's (NYSE: BX) chief operating officer, is a seasoned veteran of the private equity world. He joined DLJ in 1975 and created the firm's merchant banking division in 1985. When DLJ sold out to Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS), he spent a couple year's as a high level executive there.

So, no doubt, his musings hold a lot of weight. In fact, he recently spoke at the Dow Jones' Private Equity Analyst conference.

His view on things? Well, things aren't so bad in the private equity world. Interestingly enough, he thinks Wall Street will be able to clear the $300+ billion in buyout loans fairly quickly.

True, the buyout volume will not be to the extent that we've seen over the past couple years. But, we should still see a good amount of activity. What's more, well-capitalized firms like Blackstone should have an advantage - and snag companies at good valuations.

And, of course, there's still lots of opportunity in emerging markets, such as China. After all, the Chinese government is a big-time investor Blackstone and is probably motivated to get some deal flow for its partner.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Blackstone's (BX) Hamilton James: the death of private equity has been greatly exaggerated originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As I posted last month, Blackstone Group's CEO Stephen Schwarzman gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal with a compelling theme -- Schwarzman is the Napoleon of private equity. Napoleon-watch tracks his moves on the business battleground.

It looks like The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) has killed its competition again.

Bloomberg News reports that Blackstone has just raised the world's biggest buyout fund -- $21.7 billion. The fund is more than triple the $6.45 billion pool Blackstone raised in 2002, and tops the $20 billion amassed by The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) in April.

If the credit crunch discussion I've been reading is all wrong, then Blackstone is poised to make more money than ever with this new fund. On the other hand, if lenders won't chip in, then Blackstone can sit on the money and earn a hefty management fee while waiting for the credit crunch to subside.

Or it could actually put its own capital at risk -- but then it wouldn't be a leveraged buyout firm any more.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

Napoleon-watch: Blackstone's $21.7 billion buyout fund originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Before the bell: BX, BRCM, NOK, AAPL, MAT originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 08 Aug 2007 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In this week's Barron's [a paid service], there's an in-depth look at the mega IPO of the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX). It's the most important IPO since the offering of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), although investors shouldn't expect the same kind of returns.

While Google signaled a burst of growth in online advertising (which appears to be long-term), it looks like Blackstone is really signaling a top in the private equity space. Why?

Here are some bullet points:

Competition: KKR, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), TPG, Apollo Management and others all have big war chests and are competing for deals. This drives up valuations -- making it more difficult to get strong returns. This is essentially what happened with venture capital during the internet boom.

Institutional Pushback: Institutions and hedge funds are pushing for higher prices on buyouts. An example is the Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) deal.

Higher Interest Rates: Private equity has been blessed with dirt-cheap interest rates and this makes it easier to generate returns. But with interest rates climbing, things are getting more difficult.

Politics: Capitol Hill needs more tax revenues. So why not raise rates on private equity?

Yes, Blackstone has posted a stunning 22.6% average annual rate of return (adjusted for fees) since 1987. But, with all these ominous trends, will Blackstone continue the pace? And, is it worth paying 2 times the multiples of companies like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS)?

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Barron's: Blackstone is no Google originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

How big is Blackstone's IPO? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In its much-watched New York Stock Exchange debut Friday, private equity firm The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) closed at $35.06 on volume of 113.1 million shares, up 13.10% from its initial-public-offering price of $31. Blackstone's shares did however finish $1.39 lower than Friday's opening price of $36.45 after spending most of Friday's session stalled between $35 and $36.

Blackstone raised $4.13 billion Thursday in its 133.4-million-share IPO, the largest in the U.S. since CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT)'s $4.6 billion IPO in 2002. The shares outstanding represent a 12.3 percent stake in the buyout firm; Friday's $4.06-per-share gains bring Blackstone's capitalized value from $33.5 billion to just under $38 billion -- not too shabby.

More Blackstone coverage on BloggingStocks

• Tom Taulli: Blackstone sixth among IPOs
• Tom Taulli: Expert on Blackstone IPO
• Peter Cohan: Napoleon-watch: Blackstone's disappointing debut
• Joseph Lazzaro: Is the Blackstone IPO right for you?
• Sarah Gilbert: Blackstone Group IPO: Do you want in?
• Peter Cohan: Blackstone IPO not a great deal for bankers or public
• Georges Yared: Blackstone Group: Going public because it can
• Tom Taulli: Blackstone IPO: Looking for the greater fool

Blackstone closes up 13.1% in market debut originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In its much-watched New York Stock Exchange debut, private equity firm The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) spent Friday narrowly trading within $1 of its $36.45 opening price. Amid selling elsewhere on Wall Street, Blackstone shares had settled at $35.43 by 3:30 p.m. on volume of 105.1 million, up 14.3% from its $31 initial-public-offering price.

Blackstone raised $4.13 billion Thursday in its 133.4-million-share IPO, the largest in the U.S. since CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT)'s $4.6 billion IPO in 2002. The offering represents a 12.3 percent stake in the buyout firm, giving Blackstone a capitalized value of $38.4 billion at the shares' late Friday price.

The Blackstone Group is a top global alternative asset manager and provider of financial advisory services. The firm manages about $88.4 billion in assets, concentrating recently on the commercial real-estate and hospitality industries.

Continue reading Blackstone IPO stalls after opening bump

Blackstone IPO stalls after opening bump originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As I posted earlier this month, Blackstone Group's CEO Stephen Schwarzman gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal with a compelling theme -- Schwarzman is the Napoleon of private equity. Napoleon-watch tracks his moves on the business battleground.

Yesterday I predicted that The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) would close its first day of trading at $90 a unit. Instead, it's currently trading up a mere 14.9% from its offering price of $31.

It's a bit silly I realize to say that an IPO is disappointing which leaves its CEO worth about $8 billion. But there are a couple of reasons why this modest first day rise bodes poorly for the stock and sector:

Continue reading Napoleon-watch: Blackstone's disappointing debut

Napoleon-watch: Blackstone's disappointing debut originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In its much-watched NYSE debut, The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) spent late Friday morning trading narrowly between $35.50 and $37, mostly stagnant since opening at $36.45, 18% higher than its IPO price of $31. At 12:30 p.m., shares of the private equity giant were trading $4.65 higher at $35.65, on volume of 88.5 million shares. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 were all lower.

Blackstone raised $4.13 billion after trading Thursday in its 133.4-million-share IPO, the largest in the U.S. since CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT)'s $4.6 billion IPO in 2002. The offering represents a 12.3 percent stake in the buyout firm.

The Blackstone Group is a top global alternative asset manager and provider of financial advisory services. The firm has about $88.4 billion in assets under management.

Continue reading Blackstone opens up 18% in NYSE debut

Blackstone opens up 18% in NYSE debut originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Blackstone IPO priced today at $31, will start trading tomorrow, June 22 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Blackstone snags a public-markets guru originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Day Undetermined:
  • The Blackstone Group (BX), a 133.3M-share IPO. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are the lead managers. Filing range: $29.00-$31.00.
• Tuesday
  • Biofuel Energy (BIOF), a 9.5M-share IPO for this ethanol company. JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and AG Edwards are the lead managers. Filing range: $16.00-$18.00.
• Wednesday
  • Bway (BWY), an 11.765M-share IPO for this container company. Goldman Sachs and the Bank of America are the lead managers. Filing range: $16.00-$18.00.
  • GeoVera Insurance (GEOV), a 5.99M-share IPO for this residential insurance company. JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch are the lead managers.
• Thursday
  • Aegerion Pharmaceuticals (AEGR), a 5M-share IPO for this cardiovascular medicines company. Lehman Brothers is the lead manager. Filing range: $12.00-$14.00.

Continue reading IPO & secondary weekly preview: Blackstone Group, Hertz, Omniture

IPO & secondary weekly preview: Blackstone Group, Hertz, Omniture originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Dow Jones & Company's (NYSE: DJ) Wall Street Journal (a.k.a., The Towel) occupies a unique spot in the media firmament. As I pointed out earlier in the year, it changed its footprint and now looks to me like a Holiday Inn bath towel. Towel Talk offers a perspective on its news and views.

News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) bid for The Towel has plunged a fiery torch into the viper's nest of conflict and ambition at the paper. And this conflict has opened up the possibility of numerous bidders and targets in the beleaguered newspaper business.

I come to this story with some conflicts of my own. I have done consulting work for News Corp.'s Chairman and CEO and have worked with several reporters from The Towel. But what I find most interesting about this takeover is that it plunges right to the heart of the conflict within The Towel between the Bancroft family, which I imagine backs the Towel's arch conservative editorial page, and the reporting side, whose union representatives have opposed the deal.

Continue reading Towel Talk: Dow Jones' red state blues

Towel Talk: Dow Jones' red state blues originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 May 2007 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Not child's play: Safety an issue at Blackstone Group's LegoLand? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In early February, The Blackstone Group announced that it had won the bidding for Equity Office Properties Trust in a record-breaking transaction worth $36 billion.

At that time, many commentators gave the deal a big thumbs up, anticipating that it would mark the start of another move higher in the long-running boom in listed property shares, dominated by Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs.

Others took note of the fact that the chairman and largest shareholder of EOP was Sam Zell. He is a well-known "vulture investor" with a longstanding reputation for buying cheap and selling dear, who stood to receive more than $90 million for his 1.9 million share stake.

While it may be too soon to say for sure, the relative performance of other shares in the sector after the deal was agreed upon suggests the cynics may have been right. Since February 7, the date Blackstone confirmed it had "won," the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index has underperformed the S&P 500 Index by more than 10.5%.

With all the excitement about mega billion-dollar deals, a torrent of mergers and acquisitions activity, and the rocket-like trajectory of the private equity boom, it makes you wonder about who the real "smart money" is nowadays.

Michael Panzner is a 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets and the author of Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes and The New Laws of the Stock Market Jungle: An Insider's Guide to Successful Investing in a Changing World.

Who's the smart money nowadays? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Back in late November, Central Parking Corporation (NYSE: CPC) retained The Blackstone Group to explore "strategic alternatives to enhance stockholder value."

Basically, this is finance-speak for a company that wants to sell out.

Well, today, a deal got done. Central Parking has accepted a buyout for $733 million. The buyers include a variety of private equity firms: KKR, Lubert-Adler and Chrysalis Capital Partners.

Central Parking operates more than 3,100 parking facilities in 37 states, as well as a variety of countries (such as Spain, Greece and the UK). In the latest quarterly report, revenues increased 3% to $272.4 million. Net income was $9.2 million.

With private equity support, the company should now have access large amounts of capital to continue investing in more properties.

On the news of the deal, the stock price increased only 4.34%. But keep in mind that since the company announced its hiring of Blackstone, the stock has surged 31%.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Private equity parks some money originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Feb 2007 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.