Top Customer Reviews
ByRichard of Connecticuton November 22, 2010
Format: Hardcover
The story begins with the history of private equity. Stephen Schwarzman the ultimate central character in this book is a young mergers and acquisitions partner at Lehman Brothers. Henry Kravis of Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts (KKR) is doing one of the first private equity buyouts called Houdaille Industries. It's a $380 million dollar deal. Schwarzman is sitting in his office at Lehman Brothers, and saying how could this be? How could KKR get this done? What are the details? It was a eureka type moment.
Schwarzman orders up the financing document, and can't believe what he is reading. He is looking at a revolutionary financial concept that he never dreamed could exist. He knows that all great achievements start out as merely a thought, and then someone must act on the thought. KKR has already been in the business the better part of a decade when Schwarzman latches onto the concept.
He tries to get Lehman Brothers to buy into the concept. They won't go, even though he explains that with one deal we could make more money than we make in a year doing everything else we do. Ultimately there is a falling out between glamour boy Pete Peterson who is running the firm with Lou Glucksman, the in your face trader who can't stand Peterson. Glucksman wins; Peterson leaves the firm and with Schwarzman and a secretary proceed over time to build Blackstone from nothing, just an idea. Together Schwarzman the young man, and Peterson the old tiger, they build Blackstone into a private equity powerhouse.
It's all here, blemishes and all. You are reading financial history as firms collapse and private equity ascends. Blackstone proceeds to do deal after deal, year after year, making billions for 60 plus partners, Schwarzman would have paydays as big as $400 million in one year, most of it taxed at capital gains rates of 15% because of what is called "the carry".
By 2007, one out of every five mergers would be worldwide would be done by private equity groups. Blackstone with 1000 employees would dominate the industry with just a handful of other players called Carlyle, Apollo, and TPG. They would build the private equity industry into a giant that would take on traditional investment banking firms.
Schwarzman in January of 2007 gives himself a multi-million dollar birthday party by renting the Park Avenue Armory, and paying Rod Stewart a million dollars for a couple of hours of singing. By the way, you really need to know this. I have been in Wall Street for 40 years, whenever you have outlandish things happening like this birthday party, It is ALWAYS a sign of a market top developing, and there is going to be a price to be paid.
Within months of the party, Blackstone goes public with a valuation built up over 20 years equal to one third of Goldman Sachs valuation built up over more than a century. Blackstone has a 1000 employees and Goldman 30,000 plus. Blackstone has 2.3 billion in profits in 2006, and Schwarzman's personal net worth approaches $10 billion. Pete Peterson who is worth a couple of billion is there for the ride as well. Peterson made an absolutely brilliant comment at a luncheon I attended a number of months ago. He said the difference between him and other investment bankers he has known is that "He knows the meaning of the word enough." Think about it, it is profound.
The book tells the whole story from the ground up. It takes you through the public offering, and the ups and downs of the whole industry. You will see how other firms operate as well. After reading this book, there will be no surprises for you as a reader regarding the private equity industry. There is one last vital point that needs to be made and the book talks about it.
In the next few years, the entire industry must refinance the debts of many of the corporations and businesses they have bought through the years. If the money is not there to be borrowed, than it is possible that private equity by itself could be the driver of another financial crisis. I personally believe not.
Whenever these types of crisis hit, they come out of nowhere, and there are only one or two people who predict them, and they had luck on their side. You are dealing with an outlier event or what some people now call a black swan event. I promise you will love this book, and thank you for reading this review.
Richard C. Stoyeck
Schwarzman orders up the financing document, and can't believe what he is reading. He is looking at a revolutionary financial concept that he never dreamed could exist. He knows that all great achievements start out as merely a thought, and then someone must act on the thought. KKR has already been in the business the better part of a decade when Schwarzman latches onto the concept.
He tries to get Lehman Brothers to buy into the concept. They won't go, even though he explains that with one deal we could make more money than we make in a year doing everything else we do. Ultimately there is a falling out between glamour boy Pete Peterson who is running the firm with Lou Glucksman, the in your face trader who can't stand Peterson. Glucksman wins; Peterson leaves the firm and with Schwarzman and a secretary proceed over time to build Blackstone from nothing, just an idea. Together Schwarzman the young man, and Peterson the old tiger, they build Blackstone into a private equity powerhouse.
It's all here, blemishes and all. You are reading financial history as firms collapse and private equity ascends. Blackstone proceeds to do deal after deal, year after year, making billions for 60 plus partners, Schwarzman would have paydays as big as $400 million in one year, most of it taxed at capital gains rates of 15% because of what is called "the carry".
By 2007, one out of every five mergers would be worldwide would be done by private equity groups. Blackstone with 1000 employees would dominate the industry with just a handful of other players called Carlyle, Apollo, and TPG. They would build the private equity industry into a giant that would take on traditional investment banking firms.
Schwarzman in January of 2007 gives himself a multi-million dollar birthday party by renting the Park Avenue Armory, and paying Rod Stewart a million dollars for a couple of hours of singing. By the way, you really need to know this. I have been in Wall Street for 40 years, whenever you have outlandish things happening like this birthday party, It is ALWAYS a sign of a market top developing, and there is going to be a price to be paid.
Within months of the party, Blackstone goes public with a valuation built up over 20 years equal to one third of Goldman Sachs valuation built up over more than a century. Blackstone has a 1000 employees and Goldman 30,000 plus. Blackstone has 2.3 billion in profits in 2006, and Schwarzman's personal net worth approaches $10 billion. Pete Peterson who is worth a couple of billion is there for the ride as well. Peterson made an absolutely brilliant comment at a luncheon I attended a number of months ago. He said the difference between him and other investment bankers he has known is that "He knows the meaning of the word enough." Think about it, it is profound.
The book tells the whole story from the ground up. It takes you through the public offering, and the ups and downs of the whole industry. You will see how other firms operate as well. After reading this book, there will be no surprises for you as a reader regarding the private equity industry. There is one last vital point that needs to be made and the book talks about it.
In the next few years, the entire industry must refinance the debts of many of the corporations and businesses they have bought through the years. If the money is not there to be borrowed, than it is possible that private equity by itself could be the driver of another financial crisis. I personally believe not.
Whenever these types of crisis hit, they come out of nowhere, and there are only one or two people who predict them, and they had luck on their side. You are dealing with an outlier event or what some people now call a black swan event. I promise you will love this book, and thank you for reading this review.
Richard C. Stoyeck
No comments:
Post a Comment