Blackstone

Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, who started Blackstone Group LP two decades ago with $400,000, stand to collect a combined $2.33 billion from the largest initial public offering by a leveraged buyout firm. The 60-year-old Schwarzman will receive $449.2 million for selling some of his holdings, leaving him with a 24 percent stake, Blackstone said yesterday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Peterson, 80, who is retiring next year, will get $1.88 billion and retain 4 percent of the company.

The mortgage crisis and resulting credit crunch could sink a deal to buy the parent of PHH Arval, a vehicle fleet leasing company with 1,000 employees in Sparks, the company said yesterday. The disclosure sent shares of parent PHH Corp. down nearly 15 percent, or $4.26, to close at $24.24, reflecting investor skepticism that PHH will be able to close a deal announced in March to be sold for $31.50 a share. Under that deal, which valued the company at $1.8 billion, General Electric Co. subsidiary GE Capital Solutions planned to buy all of PHH, fold the fleet leasing operations into its own and immediately sell PHH's larger mortgage unit to Blackstone Group, a New York-based private equity firm.

The New York investment company that bought the Alex. Brown Building for $80 million in March is working to sell the skyscraper as part of a potential portfolio sale of real estate assets, sources said.The Blackstone Group's decision to sell the 30-story office tower at 1 South St. comes amid a flurry of sales of signature downtown buildings, including 100 E. Pratt St. and 250 W. Pratt St.As in the case of the 28-story 100 E. Pratt and the 26-story 250 W. Pratt, the likely buyer of the Alex.

Host Marriott Corp. announced yesterday that it will attempt to alter its corporate structure and become a real estate investment trust by next January, a format existing at virtually every other major U.S. hotel company.At the same time, Host Marriott said it will spend $1.78 billion to buy 13 luxury hotels from New York-based Blackstone Group Inc., adding more than 5,800 hotel rooms in eight states to its portfolio. Host Marriott currently owns 100 hotels.Just as significantly, the purchase of the Blackstone hotels will mark the first time that Host Marriott buys projects that do not carry the Marriott or Ritz-Carlton flag.

A Philadelphia real estate and energy company has assumed control of the Alex. Brown Building for roughly $85 million, the second time that ownership of the downtown 30-story skyscraper has shifted this year.Resource America Inc. purchased the debt and partnership interests in the 1 South St. office tower from New York-based Blackstone Group Inc., continuing a wave of interest from out-of-town commercial real estate investors in the past year.Like other recent transactions involving downtown "trophy" high-rises such as the 28-story 100 E. Pratt St. office tower and the 25-story Crestar Bank Building, Resource America said it decided to buy the building's $98 million worth of debt and ownership stake because it represented a solid economic opportunity.

That story about USF&G Man Norman Blake getting $44 million for making stockholders fat and happy while costing the jobs of about 2,000 employees prompts me to say: "Bring on the revolution, baby! Ralph Nader for President! Marian Wright Edelman for Vice President! Mario Cuomo for Chief Justice! Jesse Jackson for Secretary of State! Kweisi Mfume for Speaker of the House! Put Ben & Jerry at Commerce and Labor, Bill Bradley at Treasury, Jane Fonda at Interior! Dennis Miller gets Rush Limbaugh's job. Lech Walesa for baseball commissioner!"

A Business Digest item in yesterday's editions incorrectly reported the disposition of 18 percent of Host Marriott Corp.'s senior living business. The 18 percent stake will go to the Blackstone Group as part of Host Marriott's purchase of 13 luxury hotels from Blackstone.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 10/02/98

A New York investment firm has purchased the 30-story Alex. Brown Building for roughly $80 million, continuing the interest by out-of-town investors in downtown Baltimore's signature office towers.Blackstone Group's purchase of the skyscraper at 1 South St. was the third major central business district property to change hands in a year. The others were 100 E. Pratt St. and 250 W. Pratt St."I think this is simply another strong indication of the rebound of the real estate market and investment grade properties in the region and the central business district," said Robert A. Manekin, president of Casey & Associates Inc., a leading local real estate firm.

Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc. has hired the Blackstone Group, a New York investment banking firm, to help it evaluate potential buyout offers, including one that surfaced last week, company President Thomas Shull said yesterday.Mr. Shull said Merry-Go-Round officials had a "constructive meeting" last Thursday with Dennis S. Bookshester, who had previously said he was interested acquiring a large ownership stake in the retailer.But Merry-Go-Round felt the proposal was not "fully fleshed out" and told Mr. Bookshester's group, MGR Partners, to work with Blackstone, Mr. Shull said.

The Hagerstown Suns are no different from most other minor-league teams. Younger and more confused than ever.A Single-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Suns open their South Atlantic League season tonight in Columbus, Ga. But the team that shows up in Hagerstown for the home opener April 18 may not be intact very long."

On February 9, 2009, SAMUEL E. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME EAST, 1101 E. North Ave. on Thursday after 8 A.M. Funeral services will be held in Blackstone, VA.

Housing gloomy, despite uptick Sales of previously owned homes nudged up in November, but that didn't improve the broader picture of a feeble U.S. housing market racked by record-high foreclosures and harder-to-get credit. Even with the small 0.4 percent increase, the sales pace was still the second-lowest on record. Home prices also dropped 3.3 percent from November 2006. PHH's sale falls apart PHH Corp. announced that a deal to sell itself fell through because of financing problems.

The collapse of PHH Corp.'s deal to sell itself is a lesson for these credit-crunched times: If you're in the mortgage business, don't count on anyone getting the money to buy you - no matter how decent your prospects look. PHH agreed in March to sell out for $1.8 billion to General Electric Co., which wanted the company's Baltimore County-based vehicle fleet leasing arm and had agreed to immediately resell PHH's mortgage business to the Blackstone Group. But the complex deal began to unravel in September as the outlook for mortgage companies sharply worsened.

Rosetta E. Blackstone, a retired special-education teacher who had taught in Baltimore public schools for 21 years, died Saturday from complications of a stroke at St. Agnes Hospital. She was 78. Rosetta Elizabeth Howard, who was born and raised in Elkridge, lived her entire life in the Howard County community. Mrs. Howard was a 1947 graduate of Howard County High School. After her youngest child entered school, she enrolled at Coppin State College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in education.

The mortgage crisis and resulting credit crunch could sink a deal to buy the parent of PHH Arval, a vehicle fleet leasing company with 1,000 employees in Sparks, the company said yesterday. The disclosure sent shares of parent PHH Corp. down nearly 15 percent, or $4.26, to close at $24.24, reflecting investor skepticism that PHH will be able to close a deal announced in March to be sold for $31.50 a share. Under that deal, which valued the company at $1.8 billion, General Electric Co. subsidiary GE Capital Solutions planned to buy all of PHH, fold the fleet leasing operations into its own and immediately sell PHH's larger mortgage unit to Blackstone Group, a New York-based private equity firm.

Henry Kravis has been doing deals for three decades. He has swung the largest leveraged buyouts in the United States, the Netherlands, Denmark, India, Australia, Singapore and France, say regulatory documents. He has more than doubled his company's assets under management to $50 billion in less than five years and has made himself a billionaire twice over. Now he's offering to cut you in on the action. But on this one you might take a cue from Groucho Marx: If the private equity club wants somebody like you as a member, you don't want to join.

NEW YORK -- Shares of Blackstone Group rose 13 percent on their first day of trading yesterday, as investors rushed to latch onto the private equity boom that has swept corporate and financial America. Given the fanfare surrounding the company, the event seemed more like the coronation of a new Wall Street monarch than the public debut of an up-and-coming company. And the stock's "pop" - on a day when the broader market fell sharply - was another sign of how buyout shops such as Blackstone are challenging old-school investment banks and brokerages for dominance.

On June 15, 2007, M ary Evelyn. Friends may call the WYLIE FUNERAL HOME P.A. OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, 9200 Liberty Road on Friday from 6-8PM. Services Saturday Perkins Square Baptist Church, 2500 Edmondson Avenue, 10:30am Wake 11:00am Funeral. Internment Tuesday, June 26, 2007 in Blackstone, VA. Inquiries www.wyliefuneralhome.com

Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, who started Blackstone Group LP two decades ago with $400,000, stand to collect a combined $2.33 billion from the largest initial public offering by a leveraged buyout firm. The 60-year-old Schwarzman will receive $449.2 million for selling some of his holdings, leaving him with a 24 percent stake, Blackstone said yesterday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Peterson, 80, who is retiring next year, will get $1.88 billion and retain 4 percent of the company.

Katrina Myers Fore, the daughter of Jerry and Mary Jo Myers of Blackstone VA was married to D. Kevin Eisenhauer, the son of Doris Jacqueline McBeth and the late James Ward Eisenhauer on October 29th. The sunset wedding was held at the Inn at Corolla Light in Currituck NC. The couple resides in Disputanta VA and will be taking a M-bM-^@M-Busmooth jazzM-bM-^@M-Au honeymoon cruise in the eastern Caribbean in January.