Republican Leaders Lambast Political Interference in Blackstone IPO By Committee Democrats
Press Release
Republican Leaders Lambast Political Interference in Blackstone IPO By Committee Democrats
Ranking Member Tom Davis (R-VA) and Domestic Policy Subcommittee Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) today, in a letter to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, criticized an effort by Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Domestic Policy Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Kucinich for political interference in the regulatory process of the proposed IPO of Blackstone LP.
"The Waxman/Kucinich request is an unwarranted interference in capital markets, which if successful, will have a chilling effect on those markets," wrote Davis and Issa. "Further, the Waxman/Kucinich action goes beyond the legitimate oversight role of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Congress generally."
In their June 21 letter urging that the Blackstone IPO not be accelerated, Waxman and Kucinich wrote that currently Blackstone funds, "can be sold only to sophisticated investors, such as wealthy individuals and institutional investors
the Blackstone LP IPO presents novel questions because it appears to be a vehicle for allowing public investors to participate in hedge-fund type investments that have previously been considered unsuitable."
The Waxman/Kucinich letter, "suggests a general disdain for the free market system which has brought this country unparalleled growth and made it the envy of the world," wrote Davis and Issa.
Davis and Issa compared the effort to retroactively attack the public sale of Blackstone to political efforts in Russia targeting the oil company Yukos.
"We have all expressed strong concerns over the backsliding of democracy and the free market system in Russia. We should certainly not condone similar actions in the United States," wrote Davis and Issa. "We urge you to let the SEC regulatory process proceed without the raw political interference exemplified by the Waxman/Kucinich request."
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