Blackstone partners may avoid tax on IPO gains

(Reuters) - The company expects these benefits to total $863.7 million over 15 years, the filing said.




The Times said Blackstone partners would get back about $200 million more than the $553 million they paid in tax. The paper did not explain how it arrived at those figures.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Leveraged Buyout Credit Quality at Nine-Month Low, Loan Derivatives Show

(Bloomberg) -- Investor confidence in the ability
of companies to repay debt used to finance leveraged buyouts
fell to the lowest in at least nine months in Europe as lenders
shun risky assets.

The iTraxx LevX Index of credit-default swaps on loans to
35 European companies owned by buyout firms from Blackstone
Group LP in New York to London-based Apax Partners Worldwide LLC
fell to 97.75, the lowest since the index started last October,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The LevX reached a high
of 101.53 in February and traded at 98.76 yesterday.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

NYSE Euronext June volume rises

(Reuters) - NYSE Group exchanges, which include the New York Stock
Exchange and electronic trading platform NYSE Arca, reported
2.9 billion shares handled per day, up 9 percent year to date.




Trading volume reached an all-time high on June 22, the day
of the Blackstone Group IPO, with nearly 5.2 billion
shares traded, NYSE Euronext said in a statement.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Hilton would pay Blackstone break-up fee

(Reuters) - Break-up fees are customary in takeover deals and are put in place to dissuade the sides from walking away.




In the filing, Hilton said Blackstone received financing commitments from a group of banks including Bear Stearns , Bank of America , Goldman Sachs , and Morgan Stanley . The filing doesn't detail the amount of debt that will be used to finance the deal.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Wall St seen opening higher on M&A, data eyed

(Reuters) - Shares of Hilton Hotels Corp. will be in the spotlight after U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group on Tuesday agreed to buy the company for about $20 billion plus debt -- the richest in a series of private equity offers for hotel companies.




The U.S. stock market was closed for the Independence Day holiday on Wednesday. Stocks rose in a shortened session on Tuesday, boosted by takeover news.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Aspen says Blackstone, DLJ Merchant to sell stake in co.

(Reuters) - Blackstone Group will sell about 5.7 million shares, while DLJ Merchant will sell about 2.2 million shares, the insurer said in a statement.






Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

U.S. Stock-Index Futures Rise; Blackstone, GM Gains as Bear Stearns Falls

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures rose
before a private report that may show home resales fell
last month, giving more room to the Federal Reserve to cut
interest rates.

Blackstone Group LP, the private-equity firm valued at
$38 billion after its initial public offering June 22,
gained in Europe. General Motors Corp. advanced as people
with knowledge of matter said the United Auto Workers union
will end its bid to keep wages at its biggest supplier,
Delphi Corp., at GM levels.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

WRAPUP 1-U.S. lawmakers scrutinize Blackstone tax bill, IPO

(Reuters) - WASHINGTON, June 20 - A co-author of a U.S.
Senate bill that would raise taxes on private equity firms
going public said on Wednesday he was open to discussing
shortening a built-in transition period that cushions any
potential tax hit on Blackstone Group LP [BG.UL].




Sen. Max Baucus has received feedback about his legislation
suggesting a five-year transition period is too long and should
be shortened, his office said late on Wednesday.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Bear Stearns manager warned of collapse in February

(Reuters) - Now Blackstone Group, the private equity giant, is
presenting a plan to rescue Cioffi's Bear Stearns Cos.
hedge fund that is on the brink of collapse, and Bear Stearns
is infusing $1.5 billion of its own capital to save the fund,
according to people familiar with the situation on Tuesday.




The fund already has sold off $4 billion in mortgage-backed
securities to raise money that could pay redemptions and margin
calls after the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit
Strategies fund won a reprieve from creditors on Monday,
gaining one more day to present a rescue plan.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

U.S. lawmaker asks SEC views on Blackstone IPO

(Reuters) - The labor federation has asked the SEC to force changes to
the $4 billion IPO, specifically by requiring Blackstone to
register with the SEC as an investment company and follow the
same regulations governing mutual funds.




Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Washington's Drab Concrete Office Buildings Get Neon, Glass Makeover

(Bloomberg) -- Washington's drab commercial office
buildings are getting a face-lift, with New York real estate
firms driving the glass, steel and neon overhaul.

Blackstone Real Estate Advisors and Tishman Speyer
Properties LP are among real estate investment trusts snapping
up more than $4 billion of property in the U.S. capital in the
past year, drawn by lease rates that are the second-highest in
the U.S., behind only those of Midtown Manhattan.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

DEALTALK-Looking for Blackstone's bottom line? Good luck

(Reuters) - In a filing issued on Monday for its upcoming public
offering, Blackstone makes it clear that net earnings won't be
one of its key metrics. Instead, bearing in mind the company's
warning that it expects significant net losses for years,
investors should get familiar with less common measurements of
performance, such as "pro forma economic net income."




With many other private-equity firms and hedge funds
expected to pursue a path similar to Blackstone's, Monday's
filing shows that investors are likely to be flummoxed when it
comes to understanding the earnings of these private
partnerships that go public.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-Blackstone paid CEO $398.3 million last year

(Reuters) - Should Blackstone's IPO price in the expected range of $30
per share, that would make Schwarzman's stake worth $7.73
billion.




Co-founder and Senior Chairman Peter Peterson received
$212.9 million in pay and will own 4 percent of the firm after
the IPO, the filing says. The two men founded Blackstone in
1985 with $400,000.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Blackstone Seeks to Raise $7.75 Billion Selling Stock to Public, China

(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP, manager of the
world's second-largest buyout fund, plans to raise as much as $7.75
billion selling stock to the public and the Chinese government.

The firm is offering as many as 155.3 million shares for
$29 to $31 each to raise $4.75 billion, New York-based
Blackstone said in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing
today. The firm also agreed to sell a $3 billion stake to the
Chinese government.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News