Blackstone – Financial Treason & Crime

Elouise Fowler, 24 March 2021

The Crown Resorts royal commission in Victoria will probe deeper into whether money laundering is still happening at Crown’s flagship casino at Southbank in Melbourne, says the inquiry head, former Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein, QC.

Commissioner Finkelstein said he was concerned the gambling giant had not faced up to its role in facilitating the criminal activity through its gaming rooms, as revealed in a scathing NSW inquiry that found the $8 billion company unfit to hold a licence at its new $2.2 billion casino in Sydney.

In his opening remarks on the first day of public hearings, Mr Finkelstein said he wrote to the gambling giant to gauge its “attitude” and to ask whether Crown accepted the findings from the NSW probe. Continue reading “Article: Commission will probe money laundering”

03/22/202105/13/2021

Article: Crown Resorts: US private equity group Blackstone offers James Packer exit strategy

Article - Media, Publications

Crown Resorts: US private equity group Blackstone offers James Packer exit strategy

Anne Davies, 22 March 2021

Billionaire James Packer has been offered a new exit strategy from Crown Resorts after the company received an unsolicited bid from private equity company Blackstone Group.

Blackstone, which already has a 10% holding in the casino giant, has offered to acquire all of the shares in Crown through a scheme of arrangement.

It is offering $11.85 a share, representing a 19% premium to the volume-weighted average price of Crown shares since the release of its first half results for the financial year 2021. Continue reading “Article: Crown Resorts: US private equity group Blackstone offers James Packer exit strategy”

03/22/202103/22/2021

Article: Blackstone rolls the dice with $6.2 billion move on Australia’s Crown Resorts

Article - Media, Publications

Blackstone rolls the dice with $6.2 billion move on Australia’s Crown Resorts

Byron Kaye, Rashmi Ashok, 22 March 2021

Crown shares leapt more than 20% after it disclosed the informal offer on Monday, passing Blackstone’s indicative price of A$11.85 as investors wagered a bigger payment could be in the offing from the world’s No. 1 private equity firm or another suitor.

“It’s nice to get a bid, and now it’s about price discovery,” said John Ayoub, a portfolio manager at Wilson Asset Management, which has Crown shares.

“These stocks are trading at trough earnings and I wouldn’t be surprised to see further activity in the sector.” Continue reading “Article: Blackstone rolls the dice with $6.2 billion move on Australia’s Crown Resorts”

03/03/2021

Subject: Hamilton E. James

People, Subject of Interest

Hamilton Evans “Tony” James (born February 3, 1951) is an American billionaire businessman, and the executive vice chairman of The Blackstone Group, a New York-based global asset management firm, having previously been president and chief operating officer. James has been chairman of Costco since August 2017.

In 1975, James joined investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and became head of its global M&A group in 1982. He founded DLJ Merchant Banking, Inc in 1985. In 1995, James was appointed chairman of the firm’s banking group, a position he held when DLJ was acquired in 2000 by Credit Suisse First Boston, and was a member of its board of directors. At CSFB, James served on the executive board and as chairman of global investment banking and private equity. A 2007 Wall Street Journal article credited James with leading the acquisition process, on behalf of DLJ. Continue reading “Subject: Hamilton E. James”

05/31/2020

Subject: Edwin N. Conway

Subject of Interest

Edwin N. Conway is a member of BlackRock’s Global Executive Committee. He is a Senior Managing Director and is Global Head of BlackRock Alternative Investors (BAI). Prior to this, Conway was Global Head of BlackRock’s Institutional Client Business (ICB). Prior to joining BlackRock in 2011, Mr. Conway was a Senior Managing Director at The Blackstone Group where he headed the Global Investor Relations & Business Development Group. Before joining Blackstone in 2005, Mr. Conway was an Executive Director at Arden Asset Management, Inc. and prior to that he was a Director at Credit Suisse Asset Management located both in London and New York. Conway earned a BComm degree from University College Dublin (UCD).

Biography

Black Rock, Inc

07/16/200705/26/2020

Article: Refco – When Smart Money Isn’t So Smart

Article - Media

Refco: When Smart Money Isn’t So Smart

Matthew Goldstein

Bloomberg, 16 July 2007

The titans of the private equity world fancy themselves smarter, shrewder, and more sophisticated than any one else on Wall Street. Investors have bought into the sentiment as they’ve scooped up the shares of the private equity firms that have gone public recently: Blackstone Group (BX) and Fortress Investment Group (FIG). But a recent report on the spectacular collapse of Refco—the once-dominant commodities broker that was laid waste by a massive accounting fraud—paints an unflattering portrait of the private equity firm that engineered Refco’s August, 2004, leveraged buyout and its initial public offering a year later (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/11/07, “Kill the Private-Equity Tax Break”).

Read full article.