Stephen Schwarzman, the president and chief executive officer of the Blackstone Group, told delegates at a conference in New York on Tuesday that the alternative investment firm anticipates returns of over 30% on its $6.45bn (€5.24bn) buy-out fund raised in 2002, more than twice the industry average.

Schwarzman said the absence of competition from trade buyers combined with historically high levels of leverage on buy-out transactions, had created benign investment conditions for the firm's latest fund.