After a week that saw serious spasms in world markets, rising concern of a US slump, renewed fears of a coming hedge-fund apocalypse, the $44bn buy-out of the Texan energy firm TXU, and protests in Germany against the role of private equity, one might expect the urbane New York buy-out king, Steve Schwarzman, to display circumspection, especially as his company just took an uncustomary $200m hit on an investment in Deutsche Telekom.
Not a bit of it. Indeed, so bullish is he about private equity, that he calmly told a conference that he expects to see a record-breaking $50bn leveraged buy-out deal by a private equity firm by year's end.
Schwarzman is the acknowledged Man of the Moment. Fortune calls him 'the New King of Wall Street'. His personal wealth stands in excess of $3bn.
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The private equity tycoon is bullish in the face of protests and shaky world markets, says edward helmore |
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His company, The Blackstone Group, has a $125bn war chest and makes often-secretive deals in industries and markets the breadth of the globe.
Just last month, Blackstone bought
Equity Office Properties, a US office property firm, for a record $39bn, and then swallowed Pinnacle Foods, which sells pickles and pancake mix.
Hedge funds may be sexier. But with billions to play with in investments and cheap debt, private equity wields a bigger influence.
In the 1980s, corporate raiders wore red braces; in the 90s, the venture capitalists of Silicon Valley were nerdy and drank coffee from plastic cups; in this decade, the kings of private equity like Schwarzman want money, social status and wider recognition.
Two weeks ago, he celebrated his 60th birthday with a widely publicised party for 600 in the  |
