The Blackstone Group (BX) filed to go public on March 22, 2007. (See story.) Yesterday it went public at $31.00 per share. Only 133.3 million shares were offered which was about 12.3 percent of the total shares outstanding. On the first day of trading, 113.1 million shares traded hands, about 85% of the float.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stephen Schwarzman, is said to have a 24% stake in Blackstone after cashing in roughly $449 million dollars worth of stock on the IPO to become the most wealthy New York City resident. Schwarsman's remaining shares in Blackstone are worth about $8 billion.
80 year old co-founder Peter G. Peterson cashed in $1.88 Billion on the IPO, most of his shares.
Hamilton James, who is expected to eventually take over for Schwarzman, cashed in $147.9 million on the IPO while holding on to about 5% of the company.
The Chinese government is reported to have done well on the IPO. In May, China announced a $3 billion investment in Blackstone. This should be worth about $4B today.
If you had the right connections to get in on this much sought after IPO, then you gaind $4.01 or 13.1 percent in the first day of trading with Blackstone closing at $35.06.
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.
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.
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.
Kirk Lindstrom - With my writing, I hope to help you too reach AND MAINTAIN critical mass where your investments earn enough money that you don't have to ...
