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Welcome to China- Blackstone Group acquisition, National BlueStar Group Corp

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:October 3, 2008

Blackstone Group completed its first Chinese acquisition, paying $600 million for a stake in specialty chemicals maker China National BlueStar. Buyout firm Blackstone agreed in September 2007 to buy a 20% stake from state- owned China National Chemical, which will own the rest of BlueStar. The deal’s completion may be announced next week, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the deal.

The $600 million investment includes a $100 million shareholder loan which will be forgiven if BlueStar’s profit meets an undisclosed target this year. In other news The Blackstone Group has appointed a new team of advisory professionals for Asia, based in Hong Kong and Beijing. The team, which is twelve strong, includes two partners and three managing directors.

Anthony Steains, formerly with Lehman Brothers, and Jianping Zheng, formerly with HSBC, were named partners. The managing directors are Johan van Jaarsveld and Dong Hyun Lee, both formerly of Lehman Brothers, and Jing Xiaowen, formerly of HSBC.

Antony Leung, chairman of Blackstone Greater China, said, “This move underlines Blackstone’s long-term commitment to the region.” Blackstone appointed Leung and Ben Jenkins, head of Asia- Pacific private equity, to BlueStar’s board, according to a statement filed by Shenyang Chemical Industry Co., a unit of BlueStar and China National Chemical, to the Shenzhen stock exchange in September 2007.

Stephen A. Schwarzman
Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder

Stephen A. Schwarzman is Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone and the Chairman of the board of directors of its general partner, Blackstone Group Management L.L.C. He has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its founding in 1985.

Mr. Schwarzman began his career at Lehman Brothers, where he was elected Managing Director in 1978 at the age of 31. He was engaged principally in the firm’s mergers and acquisitions business from 1977 to 1984, and served as Chairman of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Committee in 1983 and 1984.

Mr. Schwarzman is Chairman of the Board of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations and The Business Council. He is on the board of The New York Public Library, The New York City Ballet, The Asia Society and The Film Society of Lincoln Center. He also serves on The JP Morgan Chase National Advisory Board, The New York City Partnership Board of Directors and The Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing. Mr. Schwarzman is also a Trustee of The Frick Collection in New York City.

Mr. Schwarzman holds a BA from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management and on the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors.

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