Blackstone Appoints Head of Public Market Activities

New York : The Blackstone Group today announced the appointment of Joan Solotar as Senior Managing Director – Public Markets. Ms. Solotar will join Blackstone from Banc of America Securities where she has been a Managing Director and Director of Equity Research. She started her career in equity research at The First Boston Corporation in 1986 and prior to joining Bank of America was part of the financial services team at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and later with CSFB as a Managing Director.

Ms. Solotar was ranked each year from 1995 to 2002 in the Brokers and Asset Management category on the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team, and consistently ranked highly in the Greenwich Survey of portfolio managers. She served as Chairperson of the Research Committee for the Securities Industry Association in 2001-2002.

Ms. Solotar will be responsible for managing Blackstone’s relationships with its public investors, industry analysts and the general investment community. She will also guide the firm on analyzing strategic development opportunities and will advise Blackstone fund portfolio companies on their positioning in the public equity markets. Relations with investors in Blackstone’s investment funds will continue to be managed by Blackstone’s Senior Managing Director, Kenneth C. Whitney.

About 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 services. http://www.blackstone.com