In January, Blackstone announced that it would acquire GSO, an alternative asset manager specializing in leveraged finance. The acquisition will give Blackstone one of the biggest credit platforms in the industry. GSO’s $10 billion in assets augments the $11 billion that Blackstone already has in corporate debt operations.
Blackstone got a good deal, paying just $620 million initially; it will pay an additional $310 million over five years depending on earnings targets. That values GSO at just 9% of assets under management. That is far less than Blackstone’s own valuation despite GSO’s having suffered a 40% fall in its stock price since launch.
"We all wanted GSO," says...
