Financial Business Review: Blackstone CLOSES On Fund, Capital One Prices OFFERING

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE:HIG) is divesting its Retirement Plans division to Mass Mutual at a price of $400 million while it continues to bring the firm back to its core property-casualty insurance underwriting business. Hartford’s large shareholder John Paulson has demanded this turn in the company’s strategy.

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The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) is closing a new $13.3 billion property fund, while investors are worried that the size of the vehicle could foresee lower returns, which is typically the case as the firm’s funds have got larger. However, Jonathan Gray, speaking for the firm, shrugs off the concerns, pointing to “an enormous amount of distressed real estate” among too few large firms which can take advantage adding that “We think this is a terrific environment through which to generate attractive returns.”

Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) has set the pricing of a secondary offering while ING divests its 54 million share investment in the firm. The transaction should close on September 10th and Capital One says again that it is not selling any shares in the offering.

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