Blackstone = Black Hole

Imho, one either has to have taken a stupid pill or simply is relying on a "greater fool theory" trade to buy the Blackstone IPO. From Friday's WSJ: "And Blackstone made it clear that public shareholders will have little, if any, say in its decisons." It's pretty obvious that to keep top talent, Blackstone will have to pay big bucks. And it's pretty obvious we are near the saturation level on the private equity growth curve. Mostly what these guys are doing now is buying a company, pay themselves an acquisition fee and then leveraging it up to pay themselves a dividend. Then they resell the rump equity left over. Not exactly rocket science. The game depends on favorable tax law, the public market exit strategy, the junk bond market froth, and the willingness of current stockholders & management to accept a quickie payoff instead of just doing the same thing themselves. Any part fails and they can't do a deal anymore -> zero fees.

So it's sort of like buying a stock or bond issued by a Donald Trump controlled company -> severe haircut expected on short notice. Or a hog slurping down the chow at the trough, not realizing you're in a slaughterhouse feedlot. Or being a sheep heading being led to shearing.

Be wary. When the music stops, be sure you've got a chair.