Business

Tuesday October 13, 2009

Blackstone plans portfolio IPOs


DUBAI: Private equity firm Blackstone Group is planning to list up to eight of its portfolio companies, according to a source who received a letter the company sent to investors on Friday.

The letter detailed that Blackstone was positioning one company – hospital staffing firm Team Health – for an initial public offering and evaluating the potential for seven others, the source said.

It also said Blackstone was in the process of five realisations this year – meaning sales of companies it owns. Of these, four had already been announced and one was imminent, the source said.

One of the exits was Kosmos Energy’s Ghanaian oil interests, the source said.

Sources previously told Reuters that Exxon Mobil has agreed to buy Kosmos Energy’s stake in the Jubilee field. Kosmos is backed by Blackstone and Warburg Pincus.

Those five realisations were expected to generate aggregate proceeds of US$2.8bil, the source cited the letter as saying. — Reuters

Blackstone was not immediately available to comment.

One problem private equity firms have faced during the market turmoil is the inability to exit investments through IPOs or by selling to companies in the same industry as the target – known as “strategic buyers”.

But private equity firms have been making the most of the improved stock markets to exit some of their investments.

Rival Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co’s Dollar General filed for an initial public offering of up to US$750mil in August and the company is considering others, sources previously told Reuters. - Reuters

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