Blackstone in talks with regional banks to team up on loans

Blackstone Group Inc.
BX,
+0.85%
is negotiating a role as a party in regional-bank loans, the private equity firm’s president Jonathan Gray said in an interview with the Financial Times published Thursday. Blackstone would potentially provide banks with firepower to lend to companies as credit becomes more scarce. Blackstone could help move loans originated by regional banks to its insurance customers. Such deals would off-load some of the risk on bank balance sheets, Gray said. “Rather than putting all [of the risk] on its balance sheet, maybe they keep 50 cents [on the dollar], and put 50 cents with us,” Gray said, according to the newspaper’s report. Blackstone’s client list from the insurance sector includes AIG International Group
AIG,
+0.38%,
which are helping the private equity firm tap into lower costs of capital as the firm manages assets for them.