Private-equity backed EagleClaw Midstream is suing the former owners of Caprock Midstream, alleging they failed to disclose tens of millions of dollars of liabilities during acquisition talks. After the deal closed, EagleClaw discovered "numerous issues and claims for liabilities" with the pipeline assets, according to a lawsuit filed in a Texas court in Houston. The largest amount was a $22 million bill presented after the close by Cimarex Energy Co from an audit of a gas gathering, water handling and electrical services agreements, the suit claimed.

Milan's arbitral court has ruled only that the 2013 sale to Blackstone of RCS' headquarters is valid while it has taken no decision on possible compensation for the Italian publisher, a spokesman for the U.S. firm said. RCS said late on Tuesday that the court, in deeming the 2013 transaction valid, had found that Blackstone's behaviour may entitle the publisher of Corriere della Sera daily to compensatory damages, subject to the advice of two experts.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management Ltd. has bought a $25 million stake in private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc. (BX) in the first quarter.Pershing Square said it built a position of almost 549,000 shares of Blackstone, according to a SEC filing. In addition, the billionaire’s portfolio disclosed a new position in Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (PK), in which it bought 678,000 shares, valued at about $5.4 million, as of March 31.Shares in Blackstone this year slumped as much as 35% as of March 23. However, since then the stock has seen a nice recovery soaring 42% and trading at $51.07 as of Friday. In the first quarter of the year, Park Hotels shares have lost as much as 81%.The hedge fund manager has also taken some profits. During the first quarter, Pershing divested about 32% of the portfolio’s stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG). The value of the burrito chain’s shares has more than doubled in the past two months. Furthermore, Ackman bumped up investments in current holdings, including Starbucks (SBUX), Agilent Technologies Inc. (A), Lowes Companies (LOW) and Restaurant Brands International (QSR).Despite strong stock market volatility triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, Pershing’s portfolio this year returned 16.5% on its investments as of May 12.At the beginning of the year, billionaire investor Ackman moved to protect the firm’s stock portfolio against coronavirus-related panic selling in markets by buying credit default swaps. Pershing Square yielded a stellar $2.6 billion from hedging its stock portfolio through the credit protection. Most of the return was invested in buying more shares of the fund’s portfolio companies including, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (HLT) and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A).Ackman is this year also upbeat about investment into infrastructure projects helping the U.S. economy recover from the repercussions of the coronavirus outbreak. In March, Pershing invested $500 million in Howard Hughes Corp. (HHC), one of the largest real estate development companies in the US.Last week, both Brian Bedell at Deutsche Bank and Christopher Harris at Wells Fargo raised Blackstone’s price target to $47 and $63 respectively from $43 and $58 previously. Bedell has a Hold rating on the stock while Harris views it as a Buy.Overall, TipRanks data shows that Wall Street analysts are cautiously optimistic about the shares with 8 Buys and 4 Holds adding up to a Moderate Buy consensus. The $54.10 average price target implies 5.9% upside potential over the coming year. (See Blackstone stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Buffett’s Berkshire Shaves Off 84% Of Its Goldman Sachs Stake Carl Icahn Initiates Position in Delek US Holdings, Boosts Occidental Petroleum Is Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) Stock a Buy? This Analyst Says Yes More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Apple China Sales On Recovery Path In April, iPhone Sales Jump 160% - Report * Vermilion Energy CEO Steps Down With Immediate Effect * American Airlines and Others Given Go-Ahead to Reduce Route Coverage * Facebook Workplace Hits 5 Million Paid Users As Remote Work Demand Rises

Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has assigned a Ba2 rating to Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc.'s (BXMT) Term Loan B add-on. BXMT's Ba2 corporate family rating (CFR) and Ba2 senior secured rating were unaffected by the company's decision to increase its existing Term Loan B by $250 million. BXMT's Ba2 CFR reflects the strength of the company's competitive positioning in the commercial real estate (CRE) sector resulting from its affiliation with The Blackstone Group L.P., and its strong asset quality, stable profitability and low leverage.

Liquid alts—mutual funds and ETFs that mimic hedge-fund strategies—haven’t done well as a group. But amid a sea of problem funds are a handful that can help investors ride out a rocky market. Here’s how to understand the strategies, know when to use them, and how to choose a fund.

Four dealmakers responsible for Carlyle Group Inc's Sub-Saharan Africa Fund are leaving to launch their own firm, Carlyle said on Wednesday, in the latest private equity retreat from the continent. Carlyle will remain active in Africa with its other funds, including Carlyle International Energy Partners. This makes Carlyle the latest private equity giant to reduce its Africa exposure and underscores the challenges of dealmaking for Western private equity firms used to large leveraged buyouts of mature companies that can be saddled with debt.

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s Naspers Ltd. and an investor group backed by German publisher Axel Springer SE are among suitors that submitted bids for EBay Inc.’s classified-advertising business, according to people familiar with the matter.Axel Springer teamed up with KKR & Co. for its offer, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Online classifieds company Adevinta ASA also made a bid for the unit by this week’s deadline, the people said. A consortium of Blackstone Group Inc., Permira and Hellman & Friedman has also been pursuing the business, the people said.The unit could fetch $8 billion to $10 billion, according to one of the people. EBay could decide as soon as next week which suitors advance to the next round, the people said.EBay shares rose 2.3% in New York Friday, valuing the company at about $30.5 billion.A potential sale of EBay’s classifieds unit could rank among the largest deals in Europe involving private equity firms this year. EBay is seeking a sale of the business at a time when market turmoil has hampered financing for leveraged buyouts, forcing companies to put a number of bidding processes on hold. Walmart Inc. paused the sale of a majority stake in its U.K. grocery chain Asda to focus management’s attention on running the business amid unprecedented spikes in demand driven by the coronavirus.Representatives for EBay, Adevinta, Axel Springer, Blackstone, KKR, Naspers and Permira declined to comment. A spokesperson for Hellman & Friedman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.EBay said in February it was in talks with multiple parties about a sale of the business and expected to update investors by the end of the first half. While the San Jose, California-based company reported better-than-expected sales in the first quarter, the classifieds unit dragged on results as the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of car dealerships.EBay’s classified business has attracted interest from several strategic and private equity firms, Dealreporter and The Wall Street Journal have previously reported, citing unidentified people. Permira partially owns Polish online auction site Allegro. Hellman & Friedman is a backer of digital car marketplace Autoscout24 GmbH.E-commerce group Naspers, Africa’s largest company by market value, is seeking to boost its portfolios in classifieds, food delivery and digital-payments businesses as well as education, Chief Executive Officer Bob Van Dijk said in an interview this month. The company acquires online companies around the world through Amsterdam-listed Prosus NV, which the company spun off in September last year.German publisher Axel Springer has ramped up its hunt for deals to accelerate a shift into digital media since agreeing to go private with the help of KKR last year.Norway’s Adevinta was spun off of Scandinavian media conglomerate Schibsted ASA last year with the goal of expanding in the global online classified market.(Updates with details on Axel Springer and Adevinta in last two paragraphs)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Guru also trimmed Booking Holdings and Apple positions Continue reading...

A look at what stocks Ackman was buying the first quarter of 2020 Continue reading...

Ackman still likes Berkshire, calling it a “strong investment” but thinks his fund is better equipped to move quickly as new opportunities present themselves.

With Covid-19 hammering earnings estimates and the market up a third since March lows, here’s how to look at basic valuation metrics.

Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") downgraded Michaels Stores, Inc.'s ("Michaels ") corporate family rating to Ba3 from Ba2, its probability of default rating to Ba3-PD from Ba2-PD, its senior secured rating to Ba3 from Ba2, and unsecured rating to B2 from B1. The speculative grade liquidity rating was downgraded to SGL-2 from SGL-1.

Milan's Arbitral Tribunal has judged that the contracts over the sale of Italy's RCS headquarters to Blackstone in 2013 were valid but found that the purchaser's behaviour may entitle the Italian publisher to compensatory damages, RCS said on Tuesday. The case centres on the ownership of RCS' historic headquarters in central Milan, which Blackstone bought from RCS for 120 million euros ($131.71 million) in 2013. RCS, owner of influential daily Corriere della Sera, launched arbitration proceedings in Milan in late 2018 to nullify the sale of the asset, saying Blackstone took control of the headquarters at too low a price, while RCS faced financial difficulties.

Also, Wall Street views on the shares of Exxon Mobil, Shopify, Revolution Medicines, and Heartland BancCorp

Blackstone-backed (BX) Phoenix Tower has signed an agreement with eir to purchase over 650 wireless towers and acquire newly constructed wireless towers over 8 years across Ireland.This transaction positions Phoenix as the largest tower infrastructure provider in Ireland while materially expanding its growing footprint in Europe. Closing is subject to customary conditions.Phoenix and Irish telecom company eir have established a long-term partnership whereby eir will occupy the sites for at least twenty years.“We are excited to partner with eir to deliver improved wireless connectivity to its customers. This deal exemplifies Phoenix’s strategy of entering into growth markets as a partner to top-tier wireless carriers,” said Blackstone’s Jasvinder Khaira. “Phoenix is committed to growing in Europe and finding opportunities to support carriers and usher in the 5G technology revolution.”Blackstone Tactical Opportunities invested in Phoenix in 2014, and over that time the business has grown to over 8,000 cell towers and related sites across 14 markets.Shares in BX are trading down 4% on a year-to-date basis, but have gained 6% in the last five days. Most notably, CFRA recently upgraded Blackstone to buy from hold, citing the company’s attractive valuation. “We view positively the secular growth opportunities at Blackstone, evidenced by 2019 asset inflows that topped $134 billion” CFRA said.“Though near-term results could be uneven amid market uncertainty and volatility, demand for private-equity investments will be fueled by the persistently low interest-rate environment” the firm explained, adding that Blackstone is also poised to deploy its more than $150 billion of unallocated capital in a marketplace where asset values have become more attractive.Risks are tied to the business cycle in many industries that Blackstone invests in, says CFRA, as well as global macroeconomic risks. “Efforts have been made to simplify Blackstone’s reporting, but it’s a complex company with transparency risks” the firm stated, as it set a price target of $55.Overall BX scores a cautiously optimistic Moderate Buy consensus with an average analyst price target of $54- which is in-line with current price levels. (See Blackstone stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Regeneron To Repurchase $5 Billion Stake From Sanofi   Weight Watchers Fires Thousands Over Zoom More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Google Pay App May Face Anti-Trust Probe In India – Report * Trump Threatens Twitter After It Labels His Tweets "Potentially Misleading" * General Electric Surges 8% Amid Sale Of Lighting Unit To Savant   * Gilead & Arcus Join Forces For 10-Year Cancer Deal, Arcus Down 15% In Pre-Market

Activist investor releases 1st-quarter portfolio Continue reading...

Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") downgraded BEP Ulterra Holdings, Inc.'s (Ulterra) ratings, including its Corporate Family Rating (CFR) to B3 from B2, Probability of Default Rating (PDR) to B3-PD from B2-PD, and senior secured term loan ratings to B3 from B2. The downgrade of Ulterra's CFR to B3 reflects Moody's expectation that the rapid decline in drilling activity in 2020 will reduce demand for Ulterra's services and cause a decline in earnings and deterioration in its leverage metrics in 2020, with slow recovery in 2021.

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. ("BREIT") announced today that its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Annual Meeting") will be held as a virtual-only meeting on the previously announced date and time of Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 9:00 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time in light of the public health impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. BREIT intends to return to an in-person format for future annual meetings of stockholders.

WeWork's India franchise said on Tuesday it laid off 100 employees, or 20% of its workforce, as the office-sharing startup joins a slew of firms that are cutting costs and revamping operations as a prolonged nationwide lockdown to curb the coronavirus has kept people indoors. A number of Indian startups, including restaurant aggregator Zomato and food delivery service Swiggy, have cut down their employees, as they reshape their business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced 1.3 billion Indians indoors and crippled business. "We have optimised and planned our team strength based on the core business, as we continue to execute our long-term business strategy in India and aim to be profitable by early 2021," said Karan Virwani, chief executive at WeWork India, set up by real estate firm Embassy Group over 2 years ago.

Dutch bank NIBC Holding NV said late on Monday it has agreed to pay its 2019 dividend to its proposed buyer, U.S. equity firm Blackstone Group Inc, before the deal settles, in order to remove one hurdle to the proposed 1.36 billion-euro ($1.47 billion) takeover. NIBC said in April it would delay payment of its 0.53 euro ($0.5785) 2019 final dividend amid the coronavirus outbreak, following guidance from the Dutch Central Bank. Blackstone also said regulatory hang-ups could jeopardize the deal.