Dopo KKR, anche Blackstone, la prima equity firm del mondo per valore di asset posseduti, prepara un numero importante di IPO e di dismissioni (13 società in totale) per capitalizzare l'incremento di valore legato all'andamento dei corsi borsistici e ritornare cash ai propri investitori...
Un dato su cui è opportuno rifletta chi è sovraesposto su asset da investimento speculativi e/o low quality.
Blackstone Said to Seek IPO for Eight Companies (Update1)
By Cristina Alesci
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) --
Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest private-equity firm, is planning to list up to eight companies and sell five more to take advantage of rising stock markets and return money to investors, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The sale of the five companies will return an estimated $2.8 billion to investors, with $1.2 billion of that coming from the divestment of Kosmos Energy LLC assets, said the person, who declined to be identified because the information hasn’t been publicly released. Blackstone rose the most in two months in New York trading.
Blackstone, KKR & Co., Silver Lake and Fortress Investment Group LLC are among buyout firms lining up initial public offerings to repay debt used to purchase companies and return money to their investors amid a 59 percent gain by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since March 9. Blackstone President
Tony James said last month he’s exploring possibilities to take companies public in the U.S. and through exchanges abroad.
“The equity markets are wide open for us right now,” James said at a conference in New York Sept. 15. “Every private-equity firm is probably experiencing the same thing.”
Blackstone rose as much as 9 percent and gained $1.20 cents, or 8.1 percent, to $16.05 at 3:21 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has more than doubled this year.
Spending Spree
Blackstone Chief Executive Officer
Stephen Schwarzman announced the plan in a letter to investors, the person said. The
Financial Times reported the contents of the letter earlier today.
A spokesman for New York-based Blackstone declined to comment.
Among investments Blackstone aims to list is TDC A/S, Denmark’s biggest phone company, which it owns together with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Apax Partners Worldwide LLP, Permira Advisers Ltd. and Providence Equity Partners Inc., the person said.
Successful IPOs may help bring in cash after private-equity firms announced a record $1.4 trillion of deals from 2006 through 2007. Credit from Wall Street banks helped fuel that surge and led to acquisitions that ultimately may not be as profitable for investors as in other eras, James said.
KKR, based in New York, and Menlo Park, California-based Silver Lake, took Avago Technologies Ltd. public in August in a $745 million deal. KKR subsequently filed an initial public offering for discount retailer Dollar General Corp. of Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
RailAmerica Inc., a Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad operator bought by Fortress in February 2007, is scheduled to set the price for its IPO today. At least four more IPOs are scheduled in the U.S. this month, according to Bloomberg data.