From partners to 'friendly' rivals

TO UNDERSTAND how Steve Schwarzman and Larry Fink - one-time partners who had an ugly breakup two decades ago - today compete for attention among the most powerful people in business and finance, consider the events of a few days in mid-April.

Mr Schwarzman's Blackstone Group, the world's largest alternative asset manager, announced on April 10 that it would pay US$14 billion for a portfolio of properties that General Electric wanted to shed. The largest real estate transaction since the financial crisis, this deal not only cemented Blackstone's standing as the biggest landlord on the planet. It also underscored how Blackstone's financial clout and real estate savvy made it the buyer someone like GE's Jeffrey Immelt would turn to in the midst of a restructuring.

Mr Fink and BlackRock, which has become the largest traditional money management firm since being shed by Blackstone, were the ones in the news on April 14. In a letter to the heads of every company in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, Mr Fink, 62, warned about the growing influence of activist shareholders and the dangers of short-term thinking. His missive (written in the plain, direct language he's known for) showed how Mr Fink is a leader among global investors - and a tough man to ignore, given his firm's US$4.8 trillion.