The Blackstone Group is preparing to buy back almost a fifth of its outstanding stock, the price of which has fallen more than 40% since its flotation in June last year, as the US alternative asset manager raises fresh capital to fund an acquistion to expand its credit platform and take advantage of turmoil in the industry.
Blackstone's board has given the go-ahead for the company to buy back up to $500m (â¬341m) of stock to balance the $620m in cash and new units it is issuing to fund the acquisition of GSO Capital Partners, an alternative asset manager specialising in leveraged finance, which has $10bn under management.
