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☆ Blackstone may slow the launch of private equity fund after investor withdrawals, Financial Times reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 10 (Reuters) - Blackstone Inc (BX.N) has warned of possible delays to the launch of a new private equity fund designed for wealthy individuals, as it copes with heavy investor withdrawals at two other funds in real estate and credit aimed at a similar clientele, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. The New York-based investment manager has been preparing to open a fund called the Blackstone Private Equity Strategies Fund (BXPE), the report said, adding that would become its flagship strategy for rich individuals to participate in its private equity business. The clients of Blackstone's other "retail" products expected the fund to be launched by early 2023, FT said. The asset manager earlier this month limited withdrawals from its $69 billion real estate income trust (REIT) after receiving too many redemption requests. Reporting by Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Dec 9 (Reuters) - The effort to remove oil from the largest crude spill in the United States in nearly a decade will extend into next week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday, making it likely that the Keystone pipeline shutdown will last for several more days. TC Energy (TRP.TO) shut the largest oil pipeline to the United States from Canada on Wednesday after it leaked 14,000 barrels of oil into a Kansas creek. This is the third spill of several thousand barrels of crude on the pipeline since it first opened in 2010. A previous Keystone spill had caused the pipeline to remain shut for about two weeks. The oil spill has not threatened the local water supply or forced local residents to evacuate, Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Randy Hubbard told Reuters.

Dec 9 (Reuters) - TC Energy (TRP.TO) said on Friday it is evaluating plans to return its Keystone pipeline to service after it leaked 14,000 barrels of oil into a Kansas creek, the largest crude spill in the United States in nearly a decade. TC Energy was expected to restart flows on the segment of the pipeline extending to Patoka, Illinois, Bloomberg News reported earlier, citing sources. This is the third spill of several thousand barrels of crude on the pipeline since it first opened in 2010. TC Energy remained on site with around 100 workers leading the clean-up and containment efforts, and the EPA was providing oversight and monitoring, Ashford said. The oil spill has not threatened the local water supply or forced local residents to evacuate, Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Randy Hubbard told Reuters.

Dec 9 (Reuters) - Crews in Kansas continued clean-up efforts on Friday after TC Energy's (TRP.TO) Keystone pipeline leaked 14,000 barrels of oil into a creek, but the cause of the largest crude spill in the United States in nearly a decade remained unknown. This is the third spill of several thousand barrels of crude on the pipeline since it first opened in 2010. While TC Energy is yet to give details on when it will restart the pipeline, a previous Keystone spill had caused the pipeline to remain shut for about two weeks. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) to TC on Thursday said the company shut the pipeline down seven minutes after receiving a leak detection alarm. The oil spill has not threatened the local water supply or forced local residents to evacuate, Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Randy Hubbard told Reuters.

This week's spill of 14,000 barrels in Kansas is sure to raise alarms over future pipeline development, as U.S. regulators had already increased scrutiny of pipeline construction due to previous Keystone spills in 2017 and 2019. The pipeline suffered few incidents in its early years, but since 2017, the number of spills increased after TC Energy received a special permit from the U.S. "I think a lot of scrutiny is going to be placed on the special permit," said Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Alliance, an advocacy group that fought Keystone XL. John Stoody, vice-president of government relations at the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association said special permits come with numerous different operating conditions. "If anything there are complaints from industry about how lengthy the special permit process is.

☆ Canada's TC Energy has shut the Keystone pipeline after one of the largest onshore spills saw 14,000 barrels leak into a Kansas creek
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

TC Energy has shut the Keystone pipeline which ships crude from Alberta to the US. It halted operations after 14,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into a creek in Kansas. The affected segment of the Keystone pipeline system "has been isolated" and remains shut, the company said. It has ordered TC Energy to keep the pipeline shut until it authorizes a restart. TC Energy did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

☆ Blackstone chief defends real estate fund amid rush for withdrawals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Investors nervous about Blackstone's real estate investment trust should view it as a long-term vehicle that's well-positioned for the future, the firm's president said Thursday. Blackstone has taken heat over the past week for limiting withdrawals from the $69 billion private REIT, the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT). Blackstone President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray defended the positioning and structure, noting that investors knew BREIT had limits on redemptions. Publicly traded REITs have gotten slammed this year amid a rising interest rate environment that has hit the real estate market especially hard, raising questions about the actual values of holdings in private funds such as Blackstone's BREIT. The $35 billion Vanguard Real Estate ETF , for example, has tumbled 26% year to date.

☆ U.S. lawmakers press federal banking regulators on the industry’s exposure to crypto after Alameda stake in bank comes to light
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Top Senate Democrats pressed key banking regulators on possible ties between the industry and digital currency exchanges following the bankruptcy of major cryptocurrency firm, FTX. "Banks' relationships with crypto firms raise questions about the safety and soundness of our banking system and highlight potential loopholes that crypto firms may try to exploit to gain further access." Silvergate Capital Corp., Provident Bancorp Inc., Metropolitan Commercial Bank, Signature Bank, Customers Bancorp Inc. are among several noted banks experiencing heightened volatility after the FTX failure. "Banks' relationships with crypto firms raise questions about the safety and soundness of our banking system and highlight potential loopholes that crypto firms may try to exploit to gain further access to banks," the senators wrote. To better understand the banking industry's exposure to crypto, the senators asked for responses to a roster of questions, including all business relationships between FTX, Alameda and Moonstone, by Dec. 21.

☆ A trail of oil: Keystone pipeline's history of oil spills
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The following is a timeline of some of Keystone's biggest oil spills, along with recent other spills of crude, both onshore and offshore. 2016April: TC shut down the pipeline after about 400 barrels of oil leaked in Hutchinson County, South Dakota. 2017November: TC shut part of the Keystone pipeline system after a leak in South Dakota, caused by mechanical damage from original construction. 2019February: Portions of the Keystone pipeline were shut down after 42 barrels of oil leaked on land in rural St. Charles County, Missouri. OTHER ONSHORE SPILLS:Since 2010 there have been two spills of crude oil larger than this most recent Keystone spill.

Companies TC Energy Corp FollowBENGALURU/WINNIPEG, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Canada's TC Energy on Thursday said it shut its giant Keystone pipeline due to an oil spill into a Kansas creek, and it is unclear how long the line will be closed. The 622,000 barrel-per-day Keystone line is the primary artery shipping heavy Canadian crude from Alberta to refiners in the U.S. Midwest and the Gulf Coast. Keystone shut the line at about 8 p.m. CT on Wednesday (2 a.m. Thursday GMT) after alarms went off and system pressure dropped, the company said in a release. "The system remains shut down as our crews actively respond and work to contain and recover the oil," the release said. Two Keystone shippers said TC had not yet notified them how long the pipeline may be shut down.

☆ Blackstone's credit fund reaches withdrawal limit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

This is the first time redemption requests had reached the pre-set limit of 5% since Blackstone launched the product in January last year. Blackstone Private Credit Fund (BCRED) received withdrawal requests from its investors that were about 5% of the fund's outstanding shares in the fourth quarter that ended on Nov. 30, according to a regulatory filing. Blackstone said all redemption requests made to BCRED will be honored and that the fund has $8 billion of immediate liquidity. "We saw net positive flows this quarter as investors sought compelling yields in high-quality assets with little volatility." Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Blackstone's grand ambitions for attracting retail money faces a hiccup
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

It's also a key part of the firm's push to attract retail investors, Insider's Rebecca Ungarino reports. Bloomberg previously reported that both firm CEO Steve Schwarzman and President Jon Gray have each put $100 million of their own money into BREIT since July. But as nice as it is to have the bosses' money backing your fund, that's not the target audience. And while there is a lot of upside to attracting retail investors — its private wealth arm has quadrupled in size to $233 billion in assets in four years — there are risks, too. Click here to read more about the recent headwinds facing Blackstone's big bet to attract retail money.

The largest property owner on the Las Vegas Strip is doubling down and taking full ownership of the MGM Grand Las Vegas and Mandalay Bay, which the deal values at $5.5 billion. VICI currently owns a 50.1% stake in the property, which it acquired when it bought MGM Growth properties in May. Strip casinos are seeing a 20% surge in revenue through October to $6.8 billion in gaming revenue from a year ago. "It's further evidence that Las Vegas remains amongst the most in-demand destinations in the world," said Rosemary Vassiliadis, Clark County's director of aviation. And hotel revenue in Las Vegas was up 51% in October compared with October 2019, before the pandemic, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Nonetheless, they fueled investor concerns about the future of the REIT, which makes up about 17% of Blackstone's earnings. "People are taking profits at the value Blackstone says their REIT shares are at," said Snyder. As a result, the REIT allowed investors in November to redeem $1.3 billion, equivalent to approximately 43% of investors' repurchase requests. Some analysts said Blackstone's REIT runs the risk of getting caught in a spiral of selling assets to meet redemptions if it cannot regain the trust of its investors. On Blackstone's third-quarter earnings call in October, Gray blamed REIT redemptions on market volatility, which he said had driven away individual investors from active equity and fixed income funds.

☆ Blackstone's bet on small investors bites the private-equity giant as investors pull out of its high-profile real-estate fund
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

BREIT, as the large real-estate fund is known, has been key to the firm's retail investor push. Blackstone, the $951 billion private-equity behemoth, is better known for its big buyouts, splashy deals, and real-estate market domination than its products catering to individuals. BREIT, as the real-estate fund is known, has posted a return of 9.3% so far this year and a 15.5% three-year annualized return, according to its website. But investor sentiment has appeared to turn for this real-estate fund, posing a challenge for the firm's retail push. Last month, Credit Suisse downgraded Blackstone stock over concerns in BREIT and BCRED.

☆ Blackstone is a top pick in financials ahead of a potential Fed pivot, Morgan Stanley says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

It's time to buy Blackstone as investors prepare for a pivot from the Federal Reserve, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Betsy Graseck named the private equity giant a top pick in financials, with an overweight rating, saying the stock is attractive entry point after its decline this year. The stock was hampered this year by a challenging macro environment that the analyst expects will continue to be an issue in the months ahead. Still, the analyst expects that Blackstone is a "long-term winner" that investors will turn more positive on as the Federal Reserve winds down their aggressive interest rate hiking campaign. Separately, the analyst removed LPL Financial from the Finest Financials list after downgrading the stock to equal weight from overweight.

☆ From the future of work to algos for home pricing, these are what the brightest young minds in real estate are working on
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There's no shortage of ties between Wall Street and real estate. So it's only fitting that we'd highlight Insider's third-annual list of rising stars in real estate. The latter boils down to trying to use tech to automate and innovate a key, but sometimes costly, part of the business, something Wall Street is well versed in. There is Megan LeMense, 34, a former WeWorker who is thinking about the future of the office in her role at Raise Commercial Real Estate. BlockFi is the latest crypto firm caught up in the FTX debacle.

☆ Public-cloud providers are reimagining themselves as consultants. Here's how AWS, Azure and Google Cloud are helping finance firms use the tech to rethink their business.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In turn, public-cloud providers are reimagining themselves as business consultants. Wall Street firms are embracing the cloud for everything from research to risk and marketing. Cloud providers are building teams to interface with execsFinancial firms making the jump to the cloud are thinking beyond their IT divisions. Some of the largest Wall Street shops are taking the opportunity to rethink how they run their businesses entirely. Wall Street uses cloud to hit the reset buttonSelipsky's comments ring true on Wall Street, where cloud projects can have firm-wide ripple effects.

☆ Kanye West says Adidas sued him for $275 million and froze all his bank accounts in a video announcing his 2024 presidential campaign
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In one clip, he claimed Adidas sued him for $275 million and froze all his bank accounts. The rapper-turned-businessman shared the video on Twitter at 6:30 p.m. PST on Thanksgiving, captioned only with his campaign hashtag "YE24." In the Thanksgiving video, footage of commentators and newsreaders talking about Ye's antisemitic comments is intercut with shots of the rapper sitting pensively in an empty Yeezy office in Los Angeles. Ye posted eight more times on Thanksgiving, including another video where he talked about meeting Donald Trump. Ye is currently promoting his 2024 presidential campaign, but is yet to file the paperwork to become a candidate.

☆ A new player in the grocery software space just raised $10 million to compete in the nearly $150 billion online grocery segment. Check out the 13-page pitch deck that helped Vori secure the deal.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Vori raised a $10 million Series A for its grocery-inventory software aimed at indepedent grocers. Vori, an inventory-management startup, pitches itself as a solution for those smaller grocers — a position that just helped it raise $10 million. Vori's inventory software provides inventory services to grocers that might only have a few stores, Hill said. "Our customers have been our most active and enthusiastic investors," Hill said. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck that Vori used to raise its $10 million Series A round:

☆ Kanye West showed Yeezy staff an explicit video of Kim Kardashian and played his own sex tapes for them: Rolling Stone
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Cheryl Teh | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

West also showed Yeezy's creative team an explicit video of Kardashian, per Rolling Stone's sources. At this meeting, West screened an explicit video of Kardashian, according to Rolling Stone's interview with a person who says they saw the video. The staff member told Rolling Stone that West whipped out his phone and said: "My wife just sent me this." Rolling Stone also reported on other incidents where West played pornography — not involving Kardashian — in front of Yeezy collaborators. A Yeezy collaborator told Rolling Stone West showed him an explicit video of porn star Francesca Le engaged in a sexual act with another woman.

☆ Joe Biden pardons turkeys Chocolate and Chip, gives thanks for 'no ballot stuffing' and 'no fowl play'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Biden quipped that there had been "no ballot stuffing" and "no fowl play" during the midterms. He also said the "only red wave this season" would be if his dog, Commander, knocked over cranberry sauce. "The votes are in, they've been counted and verified, there's no ballot stuffing, there's no fowl play," Biden said on the White House South Lawn, according to a transcript of the speech. "The only red wave this season is gonna be if German Shepherd, Commander, knocks over the cranberry sauce on our table." Biden's quips came after a widely-touted "red wave" for the Republican Party failed to materialize during the midterms.

☆ Blackstone draws a rare 'sell' rating from Wall Street as an analyst raises concerns over 2 high-profile funds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | Casey Sullivan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a rare move for Blackstone, an analyst downgraded the firm's stock rating to "underperform." Blackstone, which has expanded funds aimed at retail investors, said performance is strong. Blackstone shares fell on Tuesday after a Wall Street analyst outlined a grim picture for two of the private-equity and real-estate giant's most prized funds. Credit Suisse research analyst Bill Katz assigned an "underperform" rating to Blackstone. It's a rare negative rating on the firm, which tends to draw cheers from Wall Street analysts who are bullish on Blackstone's position as the largest private-equity investor.

☆ Blackstone's Schwarzman says he won't back Trump in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Blackstone Inc (BX.N) Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman, who has been one of Wall Street's biggest donors to Donald Trump's election campaigns, said on Wednesday he will not back the former president in 2024. Trump announced he would run in the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, launching an early bid to become the Republican nominee in an effort to pre-empt potential rivals. Schwarzman said it was time for new party leadership and that he would back a different Republican in the presidential contest. "America does better when its leaders are rooted in today and tomorrow, not today and yesterday," Schwarzman said. Schwarzman is the latest Republican to announce support for other candidates besides Trump.

☆ Market downturn does not reflect the earnings & margin decline expectations, says Guidestone's Spika
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailMarket downturn does not reflect the earnings & margin decline expectations, says Guidestone's SpikaDavid Spika, president and CIO of Guidestone Capital Management, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss market activity in response to the PPI and CPI data, steps needed to reach the Fed's core inflation target and how long until there's a Fed pivot.

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