Wall $treet Folly

Blackstone is starting up an Asian Event Driven fund business

With private equity deals few and far between, Blackstone is delving deeper into the event driven fund business. And they're looking to further expand their interests in Asia with their most recently announced move.  Schwarzman & Co is starting up a unit that will invest in Asian event drivn opportunities indluding those related to mergers and bankruptcies.  SAC Capital alum Aaron Nieman will run it:

Blackstone Altius Advisors will be led by Senior Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer Aaron Nieman, New York- based Blackstone said in a statement issued through BusinessWire today. The fund will be based in Hong Kong with employees in Tokyo, Mumbai and New York.

``As Blackstone continues to aggressively seek opportunities within Asia, Aaron and his team will provide additional investment capability that will bolster our presence in the region,'' Antony Leung, Blackstone's Greater China chairman, said in the statement.

Nieman joined Blackstone from SAC Capital Management, where he was a managing director in the Canvas Capital Management unit overseeing merger arbitrage and event-driven investments in Asia- Pacific, the Blackstone statement said.

Blackstone to Start Asian Event-Driven Fund Business - Blackstone

El-Erian to manage Pimco's Global Advantage Fund; Khosla's Strategic Value closing $600 million fund; Blackstone's European property fund launch; Morgan Stanley's Roach says China needs to raise rates now; Smaller US banks face funding pressures

• Back from Harvard, El-Erian to manage fund for Pimco
• Khosla's Strategic Value to Wind Down $600 Million Debt Fund
• Blackstone launches European property fund
• Morgan Stanley's Roach Says China Must Raise Rates Immediately
• US smaller banks under funding pressure

Steve Schwarzman's Rod Stewart birthday party concert seems like a bargain compared to what Madonna's going for...

Material girl Madge is reportedly getting paid  around $25 million -- roughly $15 million for a 90 minute concert and another $10 million for a millionaire's private party, both in Dubai.  According to Gordon Smart of The Sun (UK):

“The negotiations for the tour to stop in Dubai in November are being finalised and she will get £7.5million for the one show only. The figure is so big because of her new contract with Live Nation and the huge funds available from private promoters in Dubai.”

Madge signed to the company for £60million last autumn.

And if that wasn’t enough, she is also in talks to perform at a private party for a mystery punter while she is out there which will earn her another £5million.

That makes Rod Stewart's performance at Blackstone CEO's Steve Schwarzman's 60th birthday bash sound like a bargain.  Stewart was reportedly paid around a million bucks....

Madonna £12m for two gigs - The Sun

Charlie Rose: A conversation with Blackstone Group co-founder Pete Peterson

4/2/08

Not exactly great timing, but Apollo is finally doing their IPO

There's been speculation for months and months --- now Leon Black's Apollo Management is going the IPO route issuing 29.8 million class A shares.  Black, and his co-founders, Josh Harris and Mark Rowan, Drexel alums who founded the firm after Drexel imploded,  naturally stand to bank large. (But probably not as large as Steve Schwarzman et al banked when Blackstone took their firm public at nearly the top of the market.  The shares currently trade privately at around $14 / share on Goldman's private over the counter exchange (GSTrue).  Apollo sold shares in a private transaction to Goldman, JP Morgan and Credit Suisse in a private offering in August at $24/share, so they're under water.  Oops.  It's not clear exactly whose shares will be sold into the offering since the table of "Selling Shareholders" isn't yet filled in.

In its 406-page securities filing, Apollo shrugged off worries about an economic downturn and its inability to do traditional limited buyouts, instead embracing the period as a time of opportunity. "Investors should understand that we may significantly increase the pace of investment when the 'prevailing wisdom' is to sell and may decrease the pace of investment or sell large portions of our funds' portfolios when the 'prevailing wisdom' is to buy," the filing states.

The partners at Apollo make a base cash salary of $100,000 a year, but have a windfall as part of the reorganization of the firm in July in preparation for capital-raising. Although individual compensation is not yet broken out, Apollo's partners will get stock and restricted stock units valued at a total of $986 million. The firm's restricted-stock units have long vesting periods of six years, which is about twice the normal length of such units on Wall Street.

IPO for Apollo Management - Wall Street Journal

Here are some excerpts from the S-1 filing, including shareholdings of the principals:

Citi spikes after hours on the possible sale of $12 billion in loans

Could the debt market really be stabilizing?  Shortly after the market closed, the Financial Times reported that Citigroup was close to a deal to sell $12 billion in loans to Apollo, TPG and Blackstone....

Brokers gaining Fed presense; Perella: Boutiques can still thrive; German companies not on Blackstone 'buy' list for now; Soros sees more market losses; China Investment Corp responds to critics; Ex Deutsche prop traders set up shop

Blackstone founder Pete Peterson puts the NY Times on his shit list

Selective reporting at the New York Times?: Pete Peterson, one of Blackstone Group's founders, has a beef with the New York Times which profiled him last month in a not so flattering light....

"I'm allegedly the fat cat that doesn't pay much taxes or some such thing," Peterson, 81, complains to Portfolio.com's Lloyd Grove. "I made it clear to the New York Times that I pay substantial taxes, but they chose not to print it." Peterson, who claims he paid 38.7 percent in taxes on last year's income of reportedly around $200 million, blames the omission on the Times' anti-wealth bias. "Somebody gets a theme, and the theme is that fat cats don't want to pay more taxes or don't care about income inequality, and we ignore some of these obvious facts which are verifiable as far as my background is concerned."

Blackstone Pete Rips Times - NY Post Page Six

Blackstone: We don't need no stinking bank debt financing

Screw the banks.  Blackstone thinks they don't need them. According to Blackstone President Hamilton James, they'll find their own sources of cash to fund their LBOs.  That's gonna mean lower fees to Wall Street banks..

The firm is contacting hedge funds and mutual funds to provide loans for takeovers, James said after a panel discussion today at the Super Return conference in Munich. Other firms may follow New York-based Blackstone's lead, he added.

``We're bypassing the banks,'' James said. ``There's still ultimately demand for this paper out there if you can go directly to the buyers.''

Steve Schwarzman's Valentine's Day Birthday celebration

        

The festivities took place at Le Cirque according to Page Six.  The Blackstone Group CEO was with his Mrs, Christine.  Naturally, stone crabs, Steve's faves, were on the menu....