Blackstone Files IPO

"While we believe that becoming a publicly traded company will provide us with many benefits," Blackstone said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, "it is our intention to preserve the elements of our culture that have contributed to our success as a privately-owned firm."

The filing shows Blackstone has $78.7 billion in assets under management through three primary businesses -- private equity, real estate and alternative asset management.

The IPO is being handled by nearly every major investment bank and white-shoe firm, including Morgan Stanley(MS Quote), Merrill Lynch(MER Quote), Credit Suisse(CS Quote), Citigroup(C Quote), Lehman Brothers(LEH Quote) and Deutsche Bank(DB Quote), according to the filing.

But most striking is the absence of Goldman Sachs(GS Quote) on what will be a bellwether private equity offering. A call to Goldman was directed to a spokesman who declined to comment. Robert Friedman, Blackstone's chief administrative officer and chief legal officer in New York, declined to comment.

The notion of an investment bank such as Goldman passing up lucrative fees in a deal suggested either a Blackstone/Goldman rift or that Goldman has recused itself because it has formed ties with another competing private equity shop with similar IPO designs, observers say.

Cohen also found Goldman's omission odd, saying, "I couldn't really speak to the politics of that but it's baffling, isn't it?"

Blackstone's filing says the firm plans to increase its assets through raising new investment funds, increasing the investment of its own capital, expanding its advisory business and entering into complementary new businesses.