Schwarzman move sparks Blackstone revamp

Blackstone is looking to increase the responsibilities of several senior managers as Stephen Schwarzman, its chief executive, prepares to spend much of the next six months outside the US, mostly in Paris, people familiar with the matter say.

The move by Mr Schwarzman, 63, has been described by the people as a personal decision, partly influenced by a request by his wife.

However, Blackstone staffers say the move will not affect day-to-day management of the US alternative investment and advisory group.

They say Mr Schwarzman spent 200 days last year away from the group’s New York base. By being in Paris, they add, he will be better placed to meet with Blackstone’s increasing number of non-US investors, in Asia and elsewhere.

However, the company is also considering ways to ease the burden on Mr Schwarzman’s heir apparent and chief lieutenant, Tony James, 59, Blackstone’s president and chief operating officer, the people familiar with the matter say.

According to these people, Blackstone does not plan to appoint a single executive to serve as a deputy to Mr James but will probably shift some of Mr James’s responsibilities to other executives. It has yet to decide exactly how to do this.

While these deliberations have been in the works for months, they have been given renewed urgency by the feeling among some in Blackstone that the company was caught off guard when its bid for Dynegy was blocked last month by shareholders of the power ­company.

Among the questions facing Mr James will be how to delegate responsibilities in the company’s private equity arm.

In addition to his role overseeing the entire company, Mr James has maintained personal responsibility for private equity.

There has not been a head of private equity at the company since Mark Gallogly, a senior managing partner, left to form Centerbridge, an investment firm that is close to Blackstone, in 2005.

The arrival of Mr James at Blackstone in 2002 helped ease concerns about a potential successor to Mr Schwarzman, a founder of the firm.

Mr James is also known to have been thinking for some time about how to delegate power within Blackstone and groom a new generation of leaders at the company, which went public three and a half years ago.