Established in 1985 by industry veterans Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, the Blackstone Group has been a leading private equity venture since its creation. It is currently one of the biggest in the industry. As of late, the company has significant ownership of 40 companies and substantially large funds and hedge funds. A leader in the private equity industry, the Blackstone Group continues to play the field, heading corporate overhaul, making acquisitions and mergers, as well as providing other companies with advice in terms of restructuring the core.

Based in New York City, the Blackstone Group has numerous offices located in major cities across the United States, including Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles. The company also has an extended global reach, making its presence felt in the international market by establishing offices in London, Hamburg, Paris, Mumbai, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

The company is divided into four different areas of focus.

Blackstone’s private equity funds for leveraged buyouts are managed by the corporate private equity sector. Real estate investment funds, on the other hand, fall under the hands of the real estate sector. Blackstone’s hedge funds, closed-end mutual funds, and senior debt vehicles are taken care of by those in the marketable alternative asset management team. The last area of focus deals with advisory services for mergers and acquisitions. The financial advisory team also takes care of restructuring and reorganization advisory services as well as services for alternative investment fund replacement.

The name Blackstone is a play on the names of the company’s founders – Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman. “Schwarz” means black in German, while the name Peter is “rock” in the Greek language. Both people are still active in their respective corporate roles. Peter G. Peterson functions as the company’s Senior Chairman while Steve Schwarzman is Blackstone’s Chairman and CEO. Hamilton E. James shares the leadership responsibilities as the President.

The Blackstone Group currently employs 1,020 people, including those who work in their international offices. The company also enjoys an annual 32.5% employee growth rate.

The Blackstone Group currently has substantial and majority shares in Allied Waste, Nalco, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Travel Port, The Weather Channel, Pinnacle Foods, American Axle, Legoland, Universal Studio Parks, Prime Hospitality, and Houghton Mifflin. Among the company’s financial advisory clients include Verizon, Microsoft, Xerox, Comcast, Sony, and Bally Total Fitness.

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Additional information about The Blackstone Group

• The Blackstone files for an IPO valued at $4 billion.
• Zach Stocks publishes a concise analysis of Blackstone.
• Stephen Schwarzman comments on the economic crisis, saying 45% of the world’s wealth has been destroyed.
• The NNDB profile of Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman.

Post Author: guest

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Company Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.