GPs vs. LPs vs. shareholders

Private equity companies make a strong case for going public. But everyone knows that there's always the possibility of complications. The news that Calstrs will invest much less in funds offered by the Blackstone Group--$250 million vs. the $1.7 billion it invested in the last Blackstone fund--has led to an interesting post at Portfolio. Calstrs Chief Investment Officer Christopher Ailman says this: "Money-management organizations are based around a culture, and being public changes the culture of the organization--the stock price now becomes the focus." And this: "I don't like seeing my GPs on the cover of Vanity Fair or bantered about on CNBC. I liked it when they were private." Wow. These are strong words via the media. The issue for the Blackstone Group is whether any of its other big investors are thinking along the same lines.

For more:
- here's the Portfolio item