Blackstone warns of deal slowdown

Blackstone announced it was buying Hilton in July

US private equity giant Blackstone has warned that the tightening of the global credit market will make it more difficult to secure new takeovers.

In recent years, firms such as Blackstone have used cheap credit from banks to fund a takeover spree that has thrust their sector into the headlines.

But cheap credit is now harder to find because of weakness in the US sub-prime loans market and higher interest rates.

Blackstone added that its size made it best prepared to weather the storm.

Recent flotation

Its comments came as it reported that its net profits had more than tripled in the three months to the end of June.

The firm's second quarter net profit jumped to $774m (£387m) from $224m a year earlier, beating market expectations.

Its revenues also tripled to $973m from the year before, but missed market expectations of $992m.

The firm said it was now facing "more challenging financing conditions".

Blackstone's partial flotation in May raised the firm $4.13bn.

In July it announced that it was buying the global Hilton Hotels chain for $26bn.

The Chinese government owns a 10% stake in Blackstone.