For decades, it has been a deeply held belief among many of Wall Street’s giants that a multiplicity of business lines is superior to a more streamlined model.
But the Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity firm, has cast a vote against conventional wisdom, saying on Friday that it would spin off its divisions that provide advice on corporate transactions.
Blackstone acknowledged that the advisory division — its oldest line of business — was being hampered by potential conflicts of interest arising from being housed under the same roof as a giant investing arm. To lead the newly independent firm, it attracted a prominent investment banker, Paul J. Taubman, who has been tackling large deals on his own since leaving Morgan Stanley two years ago.
Blackstone’s move comes at a time when other big companies — most notably in technology — have been enthusiastically pursuing spinoffs to sharpen their focus and increase their stock prices. This week, Symantec became the latest technology company to announce plans to split in two, after similar moves by Hewlett-Packard and eBay.
But while breaking up may be in vogue in Silicon Valley, it is rare on Wall Street, where most giant banks and private equity firms have grown even larger since the financial crisis. Blackstone’s decision, though not seen by analysts as a harbinger of a broader trend, opened a fresh conversation about the merits of slimming down in finance.
“It’s not just about unleashing trapped capital, it’s also about creating a company that’s easier to manage,” said Mike Mayo, an analyst with CLSA who has been an outspoken critic of big banks. “We have eBay, Hewlett-Packard and now Blackstone. Why aren’t large banks part of this list that have pursued spinoffs?”
For Blackstone, which was founded by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson in 1985 as an advisory boutique, the decision to break from the advisory business was challenging. The business to be spun off includes a mergers and acquisitions practice, a restructuring services team and a group called Park Hill that helps private equity firms and hedge funds raise capital. In a voice mail message to Blackstone’s employees on Friday morning, Mr. Schwarzman, the chief executive and chairman, said that he pursued the move “not without mixed emotions.”
But the firm, which today manages almost $300 billion in assets across private equity, real estate and other investment strategies, ultimately recognized that the advisory business was being stymied by the investing operations.
When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, for example, Blackstone’s restructuring group was prevented from pursuing that opportunity because its real estate investing arm wanted the option of buying assets from the Lehman estate, said Joan Solotar, Blackstone’s head of external relations and strategy. In addition, rival private equity firms would not hire Blackstone’s bankers for competitive reasons, she said.
“The number of transactions that the advisory folks were told to stand down on has grown exponentially,” Ms. Solotar said. “That was becoming increasingly just a constraint on the business.”
Still, Blackstone’s advisory practice has managed to hold its own. The restructuring group is ranked first worldwide this year in terms of announced business, with $32.4 billion of deals through Friday, according to Thomson Reuters data. The merger advisory group has a much lower ranking, in 89th place globally. But combined, the advisory businesses generated about $380 million of revenue in the 12 months through June 30, comparable to some of Wall Street’s independent investment banks.
“It will be easier for the newly independent Blackstone advisory business to compete as a pure play than it has been as a small part of a huge investing organization,” said Roger C. Altman, the executive chairman of Evercore Partners, an investment bank that focuses on providing advice. “That’s true of a lot of businesses, not just in this case.”
Blackstone plans to acquire PJT Partners, the fledgling firm created by Mr. Taubman that includes about a dozen partners, and merge it with the advisory business while spinning off the combined entity. When the deal is completed next year, Blackstone said, its shareholders will initially own 65 percent of the new company, while the advisory employees, along with Mr. Taubman and his partners, will own the balance.
Joining Blackstone opens a new chapter for Mr. Taubman, who has enjoyed a remarkable run as a solo banker, advising on Verizon Comunications’ $130 billion acquisition of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless and on Comcast’s $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable. On the league tables this year, among giant banks, Mr. Taubman ranks 20th, according to Thomson Reuters.
This spring, he received an email from Hamilton E. James, the president of Blackstone, whom he had known as a client when he was a top deal maker at Morgan Stanley. Soon he met with Mr. James and Mr. Schwarzman, whom he knew by reputation and with whom he had previously dined at Manhattan’s upscale Le Bernardin restaurant.
“It’s very clear that this new company is going to have far more opportunities to serve companies and to attract world class talent because it’s independent,” Mr. Taubman said in an interview.
“By taking it and separating it, we can take it to an even higher level.”