The heads of two of the world's most powerful private equity firms issued a dire report on the U.S. economy on Wednesday, signaling problems for political leaders and their own firms' ability to realize profit on their portfolios. "We never really emerged from the last recession," Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein said at a breakfast session at Lincoln Center that also featured Blackstone Group (BX.N) Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman. "It will last a few more years before we get unemployment to a level that is tolerable," Rubenstein said. The two executives oversee funds holding hundreds of companies globally, given them acute insight into the state of local economies. The prolonged recession has slowed private equity firms' strategies of buying companies on the cheap with hopes of selling them or taking them public at a hefty profit within three to five years.
The Blackstone Group L.P. (Blackstone) is a manager of private capital and provider of financial advisory services. Shares of BX fell by 3.61% or $-0.46/share to $12.30. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $11.50 and as high as $19.63. On average, 4540430 shares of BX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2244840.
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