BX - The Blackstone Group Inc.
| Previous Close | 45.65 |
| Open | 45.88 |
| Bid | 45.80 x 1100 |
| Ask | 45.60 x 1000 |
| Day's Range | 45.61 - 46.37 |
| 52 Week Range | 26.88 - 47.93 |
| Volume | 3,634,923 |
| Avg. Volume | 6,330,398 |
| Market Cap | 54.588B |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 1.63 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 18.75 |
| EPS (TTM) | N/A |
| Earnings Date | N/A |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 1.48 (3.24%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | 2019-04-26 |
| 1y Target Est | N/A |
- Bloomberg•yesterday
Elizabeth Warren’s Private Equity Plan Seeks to Strip Industry of Riches
(Bloomberg) -- Elizabeth Warren wants to force private equity executives to eat their own cooking.Predictably, they aren’t thrilled.The Democratic senator and candidate for president issued a proposal this week that would link the profits at private equity firms to the success -- or failure -- of the companies they buy and sell. She also proposed limiting certain tax breaks.“It is more of an industry-destroying proposal,” said Steve Biggar, an Argus Research Corp. analyst who covers Blackstone Group Inc., Apollo Global Management LLC and KKR & Co. “If firms like Blackstone and KKR can’t do this, in a free market someone less regulated will pick up the slack.”Warren’s plan seeks to rein in private equity firms, which she said often act like “vampires” in their acquisitions by “bleeding the company dry and walking away enriched even as the company succumbs.”A former Harvard law professor, Warren consistently places in the top four in a crowded Democratic field, having enjoyed a boost in polls after the first presidential primary debate. The plan unveiled Thursday -- called the “Stop Wall Street Looting Act” -- has several Democratic co-sponsors, including her 2020 rival Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and House Democrats Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.Warren is taking aim at an industry that’s booming. Investors have committed about $4 trillion to private equity in the last decade, according to Preqin data, and the money is continuing to pour in. Blackstone alone raised $88 billion in the first six months of this year.The plan drew a rebuke from the industry’s trade group. “Private equity is an engine for American growth and innovation -- especially in Senator Warren’s home state of Massachusetts,” said Drew Maloney, president of the American Investment Council. “Extreme political plans only hurt workers, investment, and our economy.”Here’s a look at Warren’s proposal.Carried InterestProposal: Closing the carried interest loophole that lets firm managers pay low tax rates on the money they earn.The private equity industry distributed about $1.5 trillion in capital over the last five years to investors, giving firms an estimated $291 billion in carried interest, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Preqin data. The data assumes a 20% average carry for the industry.KKR took in $441.5 million in carried interest in 2018, accounting for 18% of revenue, according to regulatory filings. Over the past three years, the firm had carried interest about $3 billion.“It’s huge,” said Robert Kiernan, chief executive of Advanced Portfolio Management, of carried interest. “It would double their tax bill. Many firms might consider moving offshore to avoid this.” His firm oversees about $4 billion of assets for clients.DebtProposal: Putting private equity firms on the hook for the debts of companies they buy, making them responsible for the downside of their investments so that they only make money if the companies they control flourish.About $194 billion in loans to fund private equity transactions, such as leveraged and secondary buyouts, have been underwritten so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That money provided financing for 553 deals. That’s well off of last year’s pace, which saw $608 billion in loans sold to finance 1,446 deals.Bain Capital LP, KKR and Vornado Realty Trust took over Toys “R” Us in a $7.5 billion leveraged buyout in 2005. The company was paying interest of $400 million on about $5 billion of debt every year for a decade. While Bain, KKR and Vornado together lost over a billion dollars, (they wrote off their investment), they collected $470 million in fees and interest payments over the years.FeesProposal: Eliminating the ability of private equity firms to pay themselves monitoring fees and limiting the pay out of dividends “to line their own pockets.”KKR earned $316.7 million in monitoring fees over the past three years. The firm shares some of those fees with fund investors.Warren’s plan garnered the support of New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who serves as the investment adviser to the city’s five pension funds, with assets of $200 billion.“We must increase transparency, close the carried interest loophole, curb runaway executive fees, and strengthen protections for workers,” Stringer wrote on Twitter Thursday.Changing the private equity model could have consequences for state pension funds and university endowments, which rely on such investments to enhance returns for the benefit of retirees and students.At the Texas Municipal Retirement System, private equity was the best performing asset class, returning 27% in the year through March 31. The system oversees about $29 billion.“I think PE gets a bad reputation,” said Chris Schelling, private equity director at TMRS. Investors are focusing on growth-oriented, job creating strategies within private markets, “and I’m not sure additional regulation changes that,” he added.There could be an upside to the senator’s plans, said David Webber, a law professor at Boston University.“She’s right that there is a pernicious side to private equity that has killed a lot of jobs and dumped the obligation on the public while reaping enormous benefits,” he said. “It might sort out the private equity funds from the ones that are largely relying on these more toxic business models.”\--With assistance from Martin Z. Braun, Janet Lorin, Melissa Karsh and Adam Cataldo.To contact the reporters on this story: Heather Perlberg in Washington at hperlberg@bloomberg.net;Sabrina Willmer in New York at swillmer2@bloomberg.net;Michael McDonald in Boston at mmcdonald10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Mirabella at amirabella@bloomberg.net, Vincent BielskiFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Thomson Reuters StreetEvents•yesterday
Edited Transcript of BX earnings conference call or presentation 18-Jul-19 1:00pm GMT
Q2 2019 Blackstone Group LP Earnings Call
Motley Fool•2 days agoBlackStone Group LP (BX) Q2 2019 Earnings Call Transcript
BX earnings call for the period ending June 30, 2019.
- MarketWatch•2 days ago
Elizabeth Warren targets ‘vampires’ in attack on private-equity industry
Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday unveiled a proposal for new rules on private-equity firms, likening companies to vampires as she took her latest get-tough approach to the financial industry.
- Bloomberg•2 days ago
Blackstone Profit Tops Estimates, Boosted by Strong Fundraising
(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group Inc.’s fundraising machine is accelerating, gathering $45.1 billion in the second quarter and putting it on pace to exceed its goal for the year.Key InsightsBlackstone, the largest alternative asset manager, has benefited from a fundraising boom as investors dole out more money to the biggest firms. Its second-quarter haul gives it a total of $88 billion for the first half, and the firm expects to raise ‘significantly more’ than $100 billion -- its previous goal -- for the year, President Jonathan Gray said on the conference call Thursday. As a sign of the times, Blackstone is poised to raise a $25 billion flagship buyout fund, the biggest ever. Alternative investment shops have been accumulating dry powder, or undeployed capital, as asset prices soar and competition for deals grows fierce. Blackstone’s cash pile grew in the quarter to a record $150.3 billion, according to the earnings statement. Industrywide the massive stockpile of capital is a concern and may push down investment returns, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Paul Gulberg wrote in a July note. Blackstone deployed $18.3 billion in capital compared with $8.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. Digging DeeperBlackstone’s distributable earnings rose 1.3% to $709 million, or 57 cents a share, from $700 million, or 56 cents, in the year-ago quarter. The results beat the average estimate of 48 cents from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Assets under management rose to a record $545.5 billion.Market ReactionThe shares rose 1% to $45.72 in New York trading at 10:38 am. Blackstone’s fundraising, coupled with its conversion to a corporation announced in April, spurred the firm’s biggest quarterly share gain since 2010. The stock jumped 27% in the second period, but has lost some ground in July.Blackstone said on the call that following the C-corp shift it expects to be added to three indexes in the fall. Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman said the conversion was one of his firm’s most significant decisions in its history. (Updates with comments from Schwarzman in last bullet point.)\--With assistance from Melissa Karsh.To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Perlberg in Washington at hperlberg@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Mirabella at amirabella@bloomberg.net, Vincent BielskiFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg•2 days ago
Blackstone Is Seeking Sale of Some Warehouses from GLP Deal
(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP is talking with prospective buyers for some of the warehouses it will amass as part of an $18.7 billion acquisition agreed to last month with GLP Pte Ltd., according to people with knowledge of the matter.The investment firm has solicited interest for bespoke portfolios of properties from suitors including Prologis Inc., said some of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. At least one portfolio is valued at $1 billion or more, one of the people said.Representatives for Blackstone and Prologis declined to comment.It’s not uncommon for real estate investors to divest non-core or non-strategic holdings they amass from large transactions. Blackstone sold a myriad of properties to a variety of buyers as part of its almost $40 billion purchase of Equity Office Properties Trust in 2007.Warehouse tenants such as Amazon.com Inc. got a respite in the second quarter from what’s been a tight market. The available supply of U.S. industrial and logistics real estate -- the sum of vacant space as well as occupied space being marketed for new tenants -- snapped a streak of declines that lasted 34 quarters, according to a report this week from CBRE Group Inc.Still, big landlords remain bullish there will be ongoing institutional investment in the sector. Colony Capital Inc. is exploring the sale of its warehouse business, which may fetch more than $5 billion, Bloomberg reported this week.To contact the reporter on this story: Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson, Daniel TaubFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks•2 days ago
Blackstone (BX) Stock Up on Q2 Earnings Beat, Costs Decline
Blackstone's (BX) second-quarter 2019 results reflect lower revenues and decline in expenses.
- Reuters•2 days ago
Blackstone reports better-than-expected Q2 distributable earnings
Higher earnings from the sale of assets in Blackstone's private equity, credit and fund-of-hedge-funds divisions was almost offset by a plunge in proceeds from divestments in its real estate unit. Investors focused on the better-than-expected distributable earnings, which show the cash available for paying dividends, sending shares of Blackstone up 0.7% to $45.59 at midday. "We view this earnings release as very positive.
- Zacks•2 days ago
Blackstone's (BX) Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Costs Decline
Lower expenses aid Blackstone's (BX) Q2 earnings.
- Reuters•2 days ago
UPDATE 3-Blackstone reports better-than-expected Q2 distributable earnings
Blackstone Group Inc, the world's largest manager of alternative assets such as private equity and real estate, said on Thursday its distributable earnings in the second quarter rose 1% year-on-year, more than most analysts expected. Higher earnings from the sale of assets in Blackstone's private equity, credit and fund-of-hedge-funds divisions was almost offset by a plunge in proceeds from divestments in its real estate unit. Investors focused on the better-than-expected distributable earnings, which show the cash available for paying dividends, sending shares of Blackstone up 0.7% to $45.59 at midday.
- Financial Times•2 days ago
Blackstone caps last quarter as partnership with profit jump
Blackstone beat expectations for distributable earnings and recorded an “unprecedented” surge in assets under management to $545bn in its final quarter as a publicly traded partnership. The world’s biggest private equity firm has amassed a $150bn warchest of undrawn capital to spend on new deals.
- TheStreet.com•2 days ago
Blackstone Profit Down 58% as Investment Fees Drop Despite Fundraising Prowess
The biggest U.S. private-equity firm says second-quarter net income tumbles 58% to $647 million, as investment income slid. CEO Stephen Schwarzman touted the company's success in luring new money from big investors, including public-pension funds.
- Financial Times•2 days ago
Blackstone: dislocation oration
If there is a skill that Stephen Schwarzman has most effectively mastered, it is getting people to hand over their cash. Blackstone’s founder has emerged as a key fundraiser for President Trump’s re-election bid. on Thursday that assets under management had reached a staggering $545bn, after taking in $150bn in the last 12 months.
- CorpGov.com•3 days ago
Report of Colony Capital Asset Sale Surfaces After CorpGov Predicts Breakup
By John Jannarone Colony Capital (ticker: CLNY) is exploring a sale of its industrial real-estate unit, according to a Bloomberg report Wednesday, news that comes less than a week after CorpGov published an an analysis showing the company could be more valuable if it were broken up or sold outright. The asset, which is structured […]
- Reuters•3 days ago
Blackstone hires Caxton manager for global macro, emerging markets
Blackstone Group has hired a portfolio manager from hedge fund Caxton Associates to head its global macro and emerging markets strategies as uncertainty about interest rates is creating fresh investment opportunities in these areas. Gabriel Sod Hoffs joined Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, the company's $80 billion hedge fund unit, as a managing director, Blackstone confirmed on Wednesday.
- Zacks•4 days ago
Why Earnings Beat is Less Likely for Blackstone (BX) in Q2
Tough operating backdrop is expected to hurt Blackstone's (BX) second-quarter 2019 results to some extent.
- Bloomberg•4 days ago
Energy Transfer Weighs Sale of Rover Pipeline Stake
(Bloomberg) -- Energy Transfer LP, the U.S. pipeline giant controlled by billionaire Kelcy Warren, is weighing the sale of its 33% stake in a conduit that carries Appalachian natural gas to customers across the Midwest, according to people familiar with the matter.The Dallas-based pipeline operator has hired an adviser to pursue a potential sale of its operated interest in the Rover pipeline, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. The stake could fetch as much as $2.5 billion, one of the people said.No decision has been made and Energy Transfer could opt not to sell, the people said. A representative for the company declined to comment. Energy Transfer rose 0.6% to close at $14.91 a share.Rover is 713 miles (1,148 kilometers) long and can shuttle 3.25 billion cubic feet of gas daily to customers across Ohio and Michigan, and as far away as Ontario. The project was originally expected to cost $4.2 billion and entered full service last year after a series of delays and construction missteps, including the bulldozing of a historic house in Ohio that the company had said it was buying for office space.When the project came online, gas drillers got relief from bottlenecks that had plagued the Marcellus and Utica shale fields in Appalachia, where a production boom aggravated shipping constraints. Rover can handle as much as 10% of total Appalachian gas output.Energy Transfer sold a 32% stake in Rover to funds managed by Blackstone for about $1.57 billion in 2017. Together, Energy Transfer and Blackstone control 65% of Rover through an entity called “HoldCo,” according to a regulatory filing. Traverse Midstream, formed in 2014 by a former affiliate of private equity firm NGP Energy Capital Management, owns the remaining 35%.Proceeds from a sale of the Rover stake could be used by Energy Transfer to make an acquisition. The company is among those looking at a 20% stake in a crude-oil export project in Corpus Christi, Texas, a person familiar with the matter said last month.“We kiss a lot of frogs looking for a prince,” Warren said during a conference call in November. “We are working it hard. I will tell you, though, we are not finding any deals.”To contact the reporters on this story: Rachel Adams-Heard in Houston at radamsheard@bloomberg.net;Kiel Porter in Chicago at kporter17@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Christine BuurmaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg•4 days ago
Blackstone Nears Deal for CRH Europe Distribution Arm
(Bloomberg) -- CRH Plc, which counts activist investor Cevian Capital as an investor, agreed to sell its European plumbing and heating distribution business to Blackstone Group Inc. for 1.64 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in cash to create a more focused building-materials group.The business supplying professional builders and home renovators generated sales of 3.7 billion euros and earnings of 155 million euros last year, Dublin-based CRH said in a statement on Tuesday. Bloomberg reported late Monday a deal with the U.S. private equity firm was imminent.The sale marks CRH’s exit from distribution as Chief Executive Officer Albert Manifold steers the company toward higher growth markets including cement. As part of a more sweeping overhaul to generate cash for acquisitions, the CEO spent the “last several months” exploring options for the business, concluding that a sale would generate the most value for shareholders, according to the company.Blackstone beat out other bidders, including Bain Capital and Lone Star Funds, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The distribution business also sells products such as roof tiles and flooring.Shares of CRH gained 0.8% to 29.74 euros as of 8:13 a.m. in Dublin. The transaction will be “well received given the clean sale and the attractive price,” Davy analyst Robert Gardiner wrote in an investor note.(Updates with analyst and share price in last paragraph.)\--With assistance from Jan-Henrik Förster and Dinesh Nair.To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Kirchfeld in London at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net;Sarah Syed in London at ssyed35@bloomberg.net;Andrew Noël in London at anoel@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Tara PatelFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Financial Times•4 days ago
Blackstone to buy CRH European distribution unit for €1.6bn
Irish building materials supplier CRH announced it will sell its European distribution business to private equity funds managed by Blackstone. The European business, which supplies roof tiles, sanitary heating and plumbing to a network of builders, will be sold for €1.64bn, including net debt. Proceeds will be used for future acquisitions and to fund the FTSE 100 company’s share buyback programme, according to the company.
- Reuters•4 days ago
UPDATE 2-CRH to exit distribution business in $1.9 bln Blackstone deal
Irish building materials supplier CRH is selling its underperforming European distribution unit to Blackstone-backed private equity funds for 1.64 billion euros ($1.85 billion), including net debt. With the sale, the Dublin-based company, which provides cement, asphalt and other building materials, would completely exit the distribution business as it tries to improve core profit margins.
- Financial Times•4 days ago
CRH/Blackstone: set it in concrete
CRH’s largest deal in two years merited only a muted nod of approval from shareholders. Albert Manifold, chief executive of CRH, which is listed in London and rooted in Ireland, has extracted a decent price from the private equity group. Blackstone is paying 11 times enterprise value to ebitda.
- Yahoo Finance•5 days ago
There's a good possibility that the Fed will cut rates by 50 basis points: BlackRock exec
The Global CIO of fixed income at BlackRock said the Federal Reserve should aggressively cut interest rates.
- Bloomberg•5 days ago
Vungle Sells to Blackstone, Ending Unsettling Silicon Valley Saga
(Bloomberg) -- Mobile ad startup Vungle Inc. is being acquired by private equity funds of Blackstone Group Inc. in a transaction that will handsomely reward the startup’s backers and bring to a close a bizarre episode of Silicon Valley scandal.The transaction is worth about $750 million including cash, according to a person familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because the details are private. It represents a rich outcome for a startup founded in 2011 that raised less than $30 million in venture backing, including from Alphabet Inc.’s GV, Thomvest Ventures and Crosslink Capital. Vungle’s business, delivering ads to mobile phone users of games and other entertainment, has become highly competitive in recent years. In a press release, Blackstone said Vungle excelled at retaining users across different devices, and worked with customers including Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment Oyj, Zynga Inc., Pandora and Microsoft Corp.Vungle’s founding CEO, Zain Jaffer, was fired from the company two years ago after police were called to his house in the middle of the night. Jaffer had hit both his father and his infant child, and was naked while performing a martial arts maneuver on his young son that involved gripping the child between Jaffer’s legs. A prosecutor charged Jaffer with performing a lewd act, child abuse and battery, but later dropped the charges after Jaffer argued the police had misinterpreted the martial arts move as sexual, and that at the time of the incident, he was suffering from a psychotic episode triggered by a cocktail of legally prescribed drugs. Earlier this year, Jaffer sued Vungle, asking for his old job back or for compensation to cover his losses. As part of the sale of the company, that case has now been settled, according to a statement from Blackstone.“We look forward to contributing Blackstone’s resources to accelerate Vungle’s growth trajectory in the years ahead,” said Martin Brand, senior managing director at Blackstone, in the statement announcing the deal. Vungle chief executive officer Rick Tallman said the company would “aggressively expand” through organic growth and acquisitions. Jaffer said he now planned to spend some time with his family, and eventually start another company. “I’ve been itching to do that,” he said, adding that he was “thrilled” with the settlement and sale.Early employees at Vungle will also benefit significantly from the sale, thanks to an agreement that valued employees’ shares equally to those of large shareholders—unusual in a startup acquisition. In a 2017 vote after Jaffer’s arrest, big shareholders voted to convert their holdings to common shares. At the time, it had the effect of preventing Jaffer, then the majority shareholder, from reinstating himself as CEO. Now, it has the effect of putting all shares on equal footing in the sale. To contact the author of this story: Sarah McBride in San Francisco at smcbride24@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne VanderMey at avandermey@bloomberg.net, Mark MilianFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- American City Business Journals•5 days ago
The Funded: Private equity buyout of Vungle and other Bay Area VC news
A big funding, an IPO update and an acquisition top the Bay Area's venture news at the start of a new week. Here's more on that.
- TechCrunch•5 days ago
Blackstone is acquiring mobile ad company Vungle
Private equity firm Blackstone just announced that it has reached an agreementto acquire mobile advertising company Vungle
