Among the most prestigious private equity and investment management firms in the world,The Blackstone Group' (NYSE: BX) is a company that provides private equity, financial advisory, and investment management services. The firm is based in New York City, with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Hamburg, Paris, Mumbai, Tokyo and Hong Kong. One of the world's largest private equity firms,[2] it is part of the migration of companies from public to private hands — a total of some US$370 billion in deals in the United States in 2006.
History
Blackstone Group L.P. was founded in 1985 by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman with $400,000 in seed capital.[3] "Blackstone" is a cryptogram on the founders' names, Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson. Schwarz is German for black. Peter, or Petra in Greek, means stone or rock.
Blackstone ventures into hotels include acquiring Prime Hospitality (Wellesley Inns & Suites) and Extended Stay America in 2004, La Quinta Inns & Suites in 2005 and Hilton Hotels Corporation in 2007. Extended Stay Hotels was sold to The Lightstone Group in July of 2007 and Wellesley Inns were folded into LaQuinta. [4]
Blackstone filed for an initial public offering to raise $4 billion on March 22, 2007.[5] Blackstone offered 133.3 million shares priced at $31.00 per unit. The stock began trading on the NYSE on June 22, 2007.
Business segments
Corporate private equity
Blackstone manages or owns holdings in Allied Waste, Graham Packaging, Celanese, Nalco, HealthMarkets, Houghton Mifflin, American Axle, Prime Hospitality, Legoland, Universal Studios Parks, Encore Medical[6], La Quinta, Luxury Resorts (LXR), Pinnacle Foods, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Apria Healthcare (to be completed by the end of 2008), Travelport, and The Weather Channel.
Real estate
Blackstone holds more than 13,000,000 square feet (1,200,000 m2) of real estate in Boston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC.citation needed
Marketable alternative asset management
Blackstone offers private equity, real estate, and hedge funds, first used only for internal investments, but now open to clients.citation needed
- Funds of hedge funds
- Mezzanine funds
- Senior debt vehicles
- Proprietary hedge funds
- Closed-end mutual funds
Financial advisory services
References
External links
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