Blackstone Closes Third CLO Vehicle on $1 Billion

New York – The Blackstone Group today announced the closing of its third structured debt investment vehicle, a $1.022 billion collateralized loan obligation fund (CLO) named Monument Park CDO, Ltd. Blackstone Debt Advisers (BDA), an affiliate of The Blackstone Group, manages the fund. BDA is a nine-member team headed by Dean Criares. UBS acted as distribution agent for Monument Park’s debt.

The fund, a pool of senior secured bank loans, is among the largest loan vehicles ever closed. It is unique in that its investors have afforded Blackstone the ability to opportunistically deploy the capital over an eighteen-month window. Typically, managers of such structured vehicles must purchase assets within a three to six month period. According to Criares, “We are privileged to manage Monument Park. Our investors are convinced that the loan market is an appropriate arena in which to seek value and we believe Monument Park has been correctly structured to capture that value as investment opportunities become available over the next eighteen months.”

The closing of Monument Park, believed to be the largest CLO completed in the past four years, grows Blackstone’s total CLO commitments under management to over $2 billion since launching its loan investing business in January 2002.

About The Blackstone Group

The Blackstone Group, a private investment bank with offices in New York, London and Hamburg, was founded in 1985. Blackstone’s Corporate Debt Group is currently investing its first mezzanine fund, which has commitments in excess of $1.1 billion, and has already raised two CDO vehicles. In addition to Corporate Debt investing, The Blackstone Group’s core businesses are Private Equity Investing, Private Real Estate Investing, Marketable Alternative Asset Management, Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory, and Restructuring and Reorganization Advisory. http://www.blackstone.com/