Beijing
China Investment Corp has sold its stake in Blackstone Group LP, ending a more than 10-year investment stretching back to the US firm’s initial public offering.
In its annual report released earlier this month, Blackstone said the Chinese sovereign wealth fund no longer held any shares as of February 22. The sale was reported earlier today by the Financial Times, which said the stake was sold down “very gradually.” CIC didn’t immediately respond to an email sent to its press office.
“We greatly value our partnership with CIC and are grateful for their successful, long term investment in our firm,” said a Blackstone spokesman in New York. “We continue to expand this important relationship as one of CIC’s major asset managers and look forward to working closely together.”
CIC’s $3 billion purchase of a 9 per cent stake in Blackstone in mid-2007 was among the wealth fund’s first investments. It has been a roller-coaster ride — Blackstone shares plunged 89 per cent from the IPO to their February 2009 trough, but have since surged almost nine-fold.
CIC has had close ties with Blackstone outside of its stake in the firm’s shares. In June 2009, CIC planned to invest as much as $500 million in hedge funds including those run by Blackstone, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Last year, in its biggest ever deal, CIC last year bought Blackstone’s European logistics property business Logicor for $13.8 billion.