Blackstone establishes cleantech energy group

The group plans to raise a dedicated fund to support its activities, according to sources close to the firm.

The new team will be led by James D Kiggen, who has joined Blackstone's corporate private equity group as a senior managing director. Previously, he was a senior vice president at AllianceBernstein, where he created and managed a research team focused on emerging sciences and technologies.

Kiggen will be joined by Walter C Vester and Richard L Troyer, both formerly of AllianceBernstein, who have been appointed as principals.

Tony James, president and COO, Blackstone, said, 'This team's experience and record of investment success will position us as a leading investor in the cleantech space and will provide a valuable resource for our other business groups advising on the introduction of sustainable energy strategies.'

Garrett Moran, senior managing director, Blackstone, added, 'Jamie and his team's understanding of rapidly evolving technology applications in solar and wind power generation, carbon sequestration, next generation ethanol and other renewables will be a key input in Blackstone's investment decisions.'

In a separate announcement, Blackstone reported a second-quarter net loss of $156.5m for the second quarter, compared to a $774,3m profit in the same quarter last year.

Blackstone chairman and CEO Stephen A Schwarzman said, 'Slowing growth of world economies and volatile markets continue to present challenges as well as opportunities for our firm. We are sourcing an increasing number of attractive investment opportunities, some as a result of the market dislocation, and we committed $2.4bn of new equity in private equity from April through July. We continue to see client asset inflows across our products and we are opportunistically hiring as we create new product offerings for our LPs. Our balance sheet remains strong and we are extremely well positioned in the current environment.'

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