Not really. But it would be beautifully ironic.. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/past-gate-barbarians-look-each/story.aspx?guid=%7b9FDD889F-6BF5-4F06-AF0F-283FA5EA7962%7d -raghu.
-------------------------------------------------snip NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Henry Kravis of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. faces a tough decision. He can forge ahead and try to out do rival Blackstone Group L.P.'s Steven Schwarzman by pushing through his own $1.25 billion initial public offering, or he can fold up his tent and call it a bubble. Or he can follow Plan T: Take Blackstone private. Sound silly? Consider that any good private equity firm looks for inefficient companies that are undervalued in the market. Blackstone is inefficient. It will pay nearly $400 million of Schwarzman and other managers' taxes during the next decade. Its IPO has generated a political backlash that could end up doubling its tax rate, and the firm expects "significant losses" during the next few years as it absorbs compensation costs and amortizes its goodwill, according the firm's prospectus. KKR could eliminate most of those ills by sweeping management out the door and installing its own team. Blackstone also certainly is undervalued. Just ask Schwarzman. Since the company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on June 22, its shares have struggled to stay close to the $31 offering price and now trade at 26% discount to its opening price of $36.45. People, that's what you get when you buy a stock valued at a price 20-times earnings. And there are a lot of people unhappy with Blackstone right now, 1.322 billion people to be exact. China, after all, bought a $3 billion stake in Blackstone that is now worth $2.58 billion.
