Blackstone was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions boutique by
Peter G. Peterson and
Stephen A. Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at
Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb Inc. Over the course of two decades, Blackstone
has evolved into one of the world's largest
private equity investment firms. In 2007, Blackstone completed a $4 billion
initial public offering to become one of the first major
private equity firms to list shares in its management company on a public
exchange.
UNQUOTE
They are competent. They are effective. So was Adolf.
It is not remembered in his favour.
Southern Cross Healthcare ex Wiki
QUOTE
Southern Cross
Healthcare (Group plc) was a private provider of health and
social care services, predominantly through the provision of care centres
for elderly and some younger people. The group was the largest provider of care
homes and long term care beds in the United Kingdom, operating over 750 care
homes, 37,000+ beds and employing around 41,000 staff.[[1]
Following rapid expansion financed by the sale of leases of its homes, its
shares fell 98% from early 2008 to early 2011, reducing its market value from
£1.1bn to around £12m.[2]
It was listed on the
London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the
FTSE Fledgling Index.
In August 2002, the management backed by West Private Equity and Healthcare
Investments Limited, acquired Southern Cross through an £80m
management buy-out.In September 2004, a secondary buy-out of the business by the management
together with
Blackstone Capital Partners followed, for £162m. Blackstone then acquired
care home owner NHP (Nursing Home Properties) for £564m,[4]
which saw a competition investigation by the
Office of Fair Trading.[5][6]
Blackstone reorganised the business under a
sale-and-leaseback strategy.[8]
Southern Cross Healthcare became a pure operating company, renting care homes
from a number of companies, including NHP which became a pure property company.
NHP was subsequently sold to investors.[9]In July 2006, the company was floated on the
London Stock Exchange, entering the
FTSE 250 Index in September.[10]
In early 2011 the company was in crisis, as it increasingly found its annual
rent bill (over £240m on its 750 properties) unaffordable, having sold leases
before the
2008 financial crisis 2008
to fund expansion. With public spending cuts leading
to fewer referrals (and a drop in occupancy rates from 92% to 84%), it was
forced into negotiations with its landlords for rent reductions and appealed to
the government for support.[2]
In early June 2011 it was announced that the company had made its own decision
to withhold 30% of rent owed to avoid mass care home closure.[11]
Experts warned of a possible collapse into
administration.[11]
Its shares had already fallen 98% from early 2008 to early 2011, reducing its
market value from £1.1bn to around £12m.[2]
By July 2011, attempts to rescue the company had failed, and all care homes
were being taken over by their landlords.[12]
The largest landlord, NHP, owning 250 Southern Cross homes, hired
Chai Patel
to transfer management
HC-One, a
company set up by his old consultancy Court Cavendish.[13][14][15]
The former CEO, James Buchan, waived his severance pay.[[16]
Media criticism focussed on the split from the landlord entity, as the
sale and leaseback strategy implemented by
Blackstone Group had crippled Southern Cross with an unsustainable
business model. Blackstone denied responsibility, stating that the company
had been in good order when it sold it five years previously.
UNQUOTE
Their customers got screwed big time. The Wall Street
mob robbed them blind.
Stephen A. Schwarzman ex Wiki
QUOTE
Stephen
(Steve) Allen Schwarzman (born February 14, 1947) is an
American
financier. He is the chairman and CEO of the
Blackstone Group, a private equity firm he co-founded with former
Lehman Brothers CEO and
US Secretary of Commerce
Peter Peterson.
Schwarzman's first job in the financial services was with
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a now defunct
investment bank. After business school, Schwarzman started working at the
investment bank
Lehman Brothers, where he reached the rank of
managing director at age 31.[9]
He eventually became the head of Lehman Brothers' global
mergers and acquisitions team. In 1985, Schwarzman and his boss
Peter Peterson started Blackstone, which originally focused on mergers and
acquisitions.[10][11]
With an estimated current net worth of around $4.7 billion, Schwarzman was
ranked by
Forbes as the
52nd-richest person in America in 2011.[2]
..........
When Blackstone went public in June 2007, it revealed in a securities filing
that Schwarzman had earned about $398.3 million in fiscal 2006.[18][19]
He ultimately received $684 million selling part of his Blackstone stake in the
IPO, keeping a stake then worth $9.1 billion.[20].........
In June 2007, Schwarzman described his view on financial markets with the
statement: "I want war, not a series of skirmishes. (...) I always think about
what will kill off the other bidder."[22]..........
In August 2010, Schwarzman compared the
Obama administration's plan to raise
carried interest taxes to
Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939, a comment for which Schwarzman later
apologized.[24][25]
UNQUOTE
A gobby Jew apart from anything else. Saying what he really thought about
Obama was not a good idea, even though the black is a
puppet of Zionist crazies. Of course when Schwarzman
screws the little people that is just fine.
Peter G. Peterson
QUOTE
Peter George "Pete" Peterson (born June 5, 1926) is an
American businessman,
investment banker,
fiscal conservative, author, and politician whose most prominent political
position was as
United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972 to February 1,
1973 serving under
Richard Nixon........
Before serving in the White House, Peterson was Chairman and CEO of
Bell & Howell, from 1963 to 1971. From 1973 to 1984 he was Chairman and CEO
of
Lehman Brothers. In 1985 he co-founded the
private equity firm, the
Blackstone Group. Peterson was Chairman of the
Council on Foreign Relations until retiring in 2007, after being named
chairman emeritus. In 2008, Peterson was ranked 149th on the "Forbes
400 Richest Americans" with a net worth of $2.8 billion.
Peterson founded the
Blackstone Group, which went public in 2007. He has been named the most
influential billionaire in U.S. politics.[2].............
In 1969, he was invited by philanthropist
John D. Rockefeller 3rd, CFR Chairman
John J. McCloy, and former Treasury Secretary
Douglas Dillon to chair a Commission on Foundations and Private
Philanthropy, which became known as the Peterson Commission. Among its
recommendations adopted by the government were that
foundations be required annually to disburse a minimum proportion of their
funds.........
He was Chairman and CEO of
Lehman Brothers (1973–1977) and
Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb Inc. (1977–1984).[7]
In 1985, he co-founded with
Stephen A. Schwarzman the prominent private equity and investment management
firm, the
Blackstone Group, and was for many years its chairman.[8]
It was the fortune he made at Blackstone, including the $1.9 billion he received
when it went public in 2007, that funded many of his charitable and political
causes.[9][10]
He succeeded
David Rockefeller as Chairman of the
Council on Foreign Relations in 1985 and served until his retirement in
2007. He currently serves as Trustee of the
Rockefeller family's
Japan Society and of the
Museum of Modern Art, and was previously on the board of Rockefeller Center
Properties, Inc........
On August 4, 2010, it was announced that he had signed "The
Giving Pledge." He was one of 40 billionaires, led by
Bill Gates
and
Warren Buffett, who agreed to give half their wealth to charity.[13]
UNQUOTE
Charity sounds good. Charities are often
business corporations with major tax breaks. If someone gets the point where he can't spend it, bunging it to an
organisation he fancies will carry on his agenda.
Sale And Leaseback ex
Wiki
QUOTE
Leaseback, short for sale-and-leaseback,
is a
financial transaction, where one sells an asset and
leases it back for the long-term; therefore, one continues to be able to use
the asset but no longer owns it. The transaction is generally done for fixed
assets, notably
real
estate and planes, trains and automobiles, and the purposes are varied,
including financing, accounting, and taxing.
UNQUOTE
The Wiki makes
heavy weather of this one. The writer is not very competent or is trying to
obscure the truth.
Sale-and-leaseback
converts assets into cash which can then be used, moved, stolen, whatever.
It makes sense in the short to medium term. Eventually the rent outweighs other
advantages.