WSJ.com

Overview

FUELED BY CHEAP CREDIT and record-setting fund-raising, the LBO boom, which has been building since 2004, has exploded in the past 18 months. Private-equity deal volume more than doubled in 2006, and LBOs accounted for almost 20% of last year's record $3.5 trillion in global M&A, according to Thomson Financial. Private equity's buying binge, despite some industry insiders' concerns, continues to roll along this year. LBOs accounted for more than 17% of the $2.26 trillion in deals through June 11, 2007 and are on pace to exceed last year's record volume.

Blackstone Group Assets Under Management: $79 billion Headquarters: New York Founded: 1985 Chairman & CEO: Stephen Schwarzman Blackstone, the world's biggest private-equity firm, has a history of diverse investments. It led a group in the $17.7 billion leveraged buyout of Freescale Semiconductor. Last summer, Blackstone and Bain closed a $6 billion bid for arts-and-crafts retailer Michaels Stores. In a mammoth property deal, Blackstone beat out Vornado to acquire Equity Office Properties, the nation's largest office-building owner, for $23 billion. In late 2005, Blackstone was one of five firms that bought Danish telecom company TDC for $12 billion and was part of the group that picked up VNU in May for $9.8 billion. More recently, Blackstone is part of a group buying Biomet for $11.4 billion, and it just agreed to pay about $6.4 billion, excluding debt, to buy Alliance Data Systems. It has closed a global buyout fund with total commitments of $15.6 billion -- since raised to nearly $20 billion -- securing its predominance. It filed to go public soon in a $4 billion IPO, but since China has said it would invest $3 billion in Blackstone, the firm has expanded its stock-market offer to nearly $8 billion. • How Blackstone Will Divvy Up Its IPO Riches Research: Worth Civils