Blackstone Closes EUR 400 Million CLO

The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), today announced the closing of St
James´s Park CDO B.V. ("St. James´s Park"), the fourth European
collateralised loan obligation (CLO) fund to be managed by Blackstone
Debt Advisors L.P. ("BDA"), an affiliate of The Blackstone Group. The
St. James´s Park vehicle is a EUR 400 million ($590 million) CLO,
which has a dynamically-managed portfolio, comprised primarily of
senior secured loans of European issuers and, to a lesser extent,
second lien loans, unsecured loans, mezzanine loans and high yield
bonds.

BDA extended its U.S. leveraged loan franchise into Europe by
establishing a London presence in 2005 and, inclusive of St. James´s
Park, currently manages four CDOs comprised primarily of
Euro-denominated assets with aggregate assets of approximately EUR 2
billion. In addition to its investment team, BDA has access to
professionals throughout Blackstone allowing it to benefit from the
firm´s intellectual capital across its other business groups, thereby
providing it with high-level access to management teams, industry
leaders and the investment banking community. BDA is one of the
principal entities which form Blackstone´s Corporate Debt Group. This
group currently manages 11 CDOs and two private investment
partnerships with aggregate capital commitments of approximately $9.7
billion. They include seven US CDOs ($4.7 billion), four European CDOs
($2.9 billion) and two Private Investment Partnerships ($2.1 billion).

Debra Anderson, portfolio manager and managing director with
Blackstone´s Corporate Debt Group in London, said "The St. James´s
Park CLO was priced and distributed during difficult market
conditions. It is a testament to Blackstone´s commitment to the
European leveraged loan market and to Blackstone´s ability to execute
transactions at market-leading levels."

Citigroup Global Markets Ltd was sole arranger and book-runner for
the transaction.

The Blackstone Group

The Blackstone Group is a leading global alternative asset manager
and provider of financial advisory services. Its alternative asset
management businesses include the management of corporate private
equity funds, real estate opportunity funds, funds of hedge funds,
mezzanine funds, senior debt funds, proprietary hedge funds and
closed-end mutual funds. The Blackstone Group also provides various
financial advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions
advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement
service. Further information is available at http://www.blackstone.com