Blackstone Group reported a whopping 243% year-over-year increase in second quarter economic net income to $703m from $205m, despite signs of slowdown in the US economic recovery and the sovereign debt problems in some eurozone countries.
While discussing the quarterly returns Thursday, Blackstone executives said they anticipate the economic conditions to improve in the US over the balance the year. They also took a somewhat contrarian view on the European debt problems, saying the public's fear over the woes may have been overblown, and that Blackstone is actually seeing opportunity to invest there because of attractive prices.