Blackstone Raises $1.4 Billion for Stakes in Hedge-Fund Managers

Blackstone Group LP, the world’s biggest manager of alternative assets such as real estate and private-equity funds, raised an initial $1.4 billion to buy stakes in hedge-fund firms, Vice Chairman Tom Hill said.

Blackstone is seeking $3 billion for the strategy, which will target firms with $3 billion to $4 billion in assets, Hill said today at Credit Suisse Group AG’s financial-services forum in Boca Raton, Florida. New York-based Blackstone is seeing opportunities to buy stakes at valuations of 4.5 to 5 times cash flow, he said.