On July 27, the share prices of Blackstone Group dropped to US$
24.30, causing a loss of US$ 538 million for China's State Forex
Investment Company (SFIC) in its share investment.
On May 21, SFIC reached an agreement with Blackstone to purchase
9.37 percent of the latter's total stocks or 101 million non-voting
ordinary shares worth a total of US$3 billion. This represented the
first overseas investment by SFIC. On June 22, Blackstone was
listed on the New York Stock Exchange with an IPO of US$31. Four
days later, its share prices hit a record high, of US$45, but the
ride ended there as Blackstone began a freefall. Last week, the US
stock market experienced its biggest slump in five years, greatly
affecting Blackstone.
Seeing the bad performances of Blackstone's shares, the Chinese
market may lose faith in overseas investment. However, SFIC does
not think the short-term fluctuation of Blackstone's share prices
will have a long-term effect on its investment, given its four-year
share-holding contract with the company.
For more details, please read the full story in Chinese. (http://www.cbt.com.cn/cbtnews/frontend/news.asp?ID=120793)
(China.org.cn July 31 2007)
