Initial Public Offerings

Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. plans a $500-million initial public offering of a private-equity fund next month, even after similar pools struggled to return investors' money. The fund, which New York-based Lehman plans to begin marketing June 6, will invest with outside private-equity managers, said two people with direct knowledge of the plans. Shares of Lehman Brothers Private Equity Partners will be listed on Euronext Amsterdam, said the people, who declined to be identified.

CKX Inc., the owner of rights to the Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali names and the "American Idol" television show, said it would be taken private in a $1.33-billion buyout led by its chief executive. Shares of the New York-based company soared as much as 44% following the announcement. Shareholders will receive $13.75 in cash and one share of FX Luxury Realty for each share of CKX, the company said. FX Luxury, an affiliate of CEO Robert F.X.

Stephen Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, who started Blackstone Group two decades ago with $400,000, stand to collect a combined $2.33 billion from the largest initial public offering by a leveraged buyout firm. Schwarzman, 60, could cash in as much as $677.2 million of his stake during the IPO, and still walk away with a 24% interest in the company valued at as much as $7.7 billion, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday. The sale of 12.

ComScore Inc., an Internet market-research company, plans to raise as much as $80 million in an initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing. The company set a price range of $14 to $16 for each of the 5 million shares to be offered. Underwriters led by Credit Suisse have an option to buy an additional 750,000 shares, which would boost the amount raised to as much as $92 million, the Securities and Exchange Commission filing says. An offering by ComScore, based in Reston, Va.

Blackstone Group would face a much bigger tax burden under legislation senators proposed Thursday, just days before the private-equity firm's co-founders stand to reap billions in an initial public offering of stock.

Blackstone Group on Friday warned potential investors in its initial public offering that a tax bill before Congress could reduce its earnings substantially in coming years. The tax measure, which would tax publicly traded private equity firms as corporations rather than partnerships, was introduced late Thursday by the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Finance Committee. Some form of the bill is widely expected to be adopted.

Wall Street won a major victory Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who lost money on initial public stock offerings in the late-'90s Internet boom couldn't sue their brokerages under U.S. antitrust laws. The high court sided with investment banks that had been accused of conspiring to inflate IPO prices, ruling 7-to-1 that lawsuits alleging IPO abuses have to be brought under securities rather than antitrust statutes. The ruling reversed a U.S.

Blackstone Group has moved up its huge and highly anticipated initial public stock offering to this week, suggesting strong investor demand for the stock despite newly proposed legislation that would significantly increase taxes on the private equity goliath. The IPO shares are now expected to be priced Thursday and to begin public trading Friday. The offering previously was scheduled for next week. After two U.S.

In the opening pages of the document outlining its initial public stock offering, private equity giant Blackstone Group attributes its success to investing "at the right time and at the right prices." For investors who are mulling over whether to buy Blackstone stock, which is expected to begin trading publicly Friday, that investment philosophy is worth keeping in mind.

Blackstone Group priced its initial public offering at the top end of the range Thursday, raising $4.13 billion in the largest U.S. IPO since 2002, even as lawmakers pushed for a delay in the offering. The expected debut today of Blackstone's stock on the New York Stock Exchange is a watershed event for the booming private equity industry. The first major U.S. buyout firm to go public, Blackstone will trade under the symbol "BX." The $31-a-share IPO values Blackstone at $33.