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June 21, 2007

Blackstone IPO to be Delayed?

This is a first. Representatives Henry Waxman and Dennis Kucinish said in a letter to SEC chairman Chris Cox today that the Blackstone IPO should be delayed because it presents "investors and the public with new and undisclosed risks". Delayed how long? Until after Congress hold hearings. My God.

As Bloomberg points out, the SEC can only block an IPO if it thinks the filings contain inaccurate or incomplete information. The trick here, of course, is to the extent that Blackstone's S-1 filing is inaccurate it's because of people like Mssrs Waxman and Kucinich and their populist and anti-corporate attempt to revise the U.S. tax system on the fly.

Further, Waxman and Kucinich argue that managers of "hedge and private equity" funds should be able to go public as a limited partnership. It would, they argue, expose investors to "new risks" (like the government?), while depriving them of "management of the funds". Riiiiight, they're so much better off being locked in for years with no liduidity, like institutional investors.

This is feckless and risky political interference in an only newly resurgent U.S. IPO market, and Chairman Cox would be wise to ignore it.

[Update] IPO has now priced at $31, which is the high end of range. Over to you, Chris.

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