Blackstone To Trade Friday

Word on the Street is that Blackstone has moved up its IPO pricing to aftermarket on Thursday with trading to begin on Friday. In the wake of news of the Blackstone Bill, people were beginning to wonder whether this much anticipated IPO was going to happen.

The press and other sites have gone over the details of the IPO ad nauseum, so I won't rehash that. If you want to pore over the prospectus online, check it out here at the SEC's site. What you fill find if you look at the news and filings since their original S-1 is that the firm's management are extremely competitive in their personalities. Schwarzman is described as a relentless in the pursuit of success. Interestingly, the firm has filed two "FWPs" or "Free Writing Prospectuses" online. The first one simply highlights and directs the investor to the updated prospectus. The second one copies a Wall Street Journal article and states that it is being filed because of statements made by Mr. Schwarzman, so as not to violate any SEC "quiet period".

I find it interesting because the purpose of the "quiet period" is to make sure that new issues offerings are not being hyped to investors. However, the filing of this news article essentially directs the inquisitive investor to the article, which in my opinion is a bullish piece about Mr. Schwarzman. It is rare to see this type of filing with the SEC. Although I am not sure if this was a calculated effort (to have a nice piece in the WSJ about a week before the IPO, then to file the article with the SEC), I am definitely in awe of the strategy.

Not that the IPO needs hype anyways. If you look at the prospectus, you will find a top notch private equity firm that clearly has ambitions to be the top dog and overshadow even greatest financial institutions in existence.

With regards to the proposed tax changes that would affect the firm, I suspect that either Blackstone will legally maneuver around the rules to avoid excess taxation, or they will become so successful that the extra tax does not matter. It is well within the  firm's capability to privatize itself before the 5 year grace period of the proposed Congressional bill. It is also reasonable for the firm, once public, to spin off parts of itself as private.

Now that private equity appears to be coming out of the closet, I am sure that its Capitol Hill lobby will become very fierce. I'm looking forward to the pricing of the IPO and all the subsequent public filings the firm will need to start filing.

As you guys probably know, I'm not buying the IPO. That's not to say it's not going to pop. Good luck to those who are.

Comments

[Article Directory]

I'm not buying it either.

[Mark Vane]

Hey, while searching for widgets for my blog, I stumbled upon http://www.widgetmate.com and wow! I found what I wanted. A cool news widget. My blog is now showing latest news with title, description and images. Took just few minutes to add. Awesome!