(
)
Financial giant Blackstone Group may have been blackballed out of handling a $150 million city police pension-fund investment because of resentment over an executive’s comment that government retirement benefits are “too generous,” The Post has learned.
“The police-union funds said, ‘Screw Blackstone because of [exec] Byron Wien’s comment,’ ” a source said.
Instead, Blackstone’s rival, Permal Group, was given the contract two weeks ago to invest $150 million in police pension money in hedge funds. The source also said the union-pension trustees rejected a recommendation from City Comptroller John Liu to have Permal share the deal with fellow finalist Blackstone.
Wien, Blackstone’s chief strategist, in January 2010 had told firm clients during a Webcast that state and local workers’ retirement benefits “are very generous, too generous . . . We literally can’t afford the benefits we have given our retirees in state and local governments.”
Two police-union sources said that Wien’s comments — which Blackstone has long since disavowed — “definitely” were taken into consideration by the unions but that they did not believe his remarks were a deciding factor in Blackstone’s losing the deal.
Liu’s spokesman denied the sources’ claims, saying that the police pension-fund trustees had hired a consultant for the contract and, after an analysis, rated Permal the top candidate.
In January, Liu was set to meet with Blackstone execs and the city pension-fund trustees, who were going to ask Blackstone to take out an ad supporting public pensions in The Wall Street Journal, according to the Bloomberg news service. But that meeting was canceled after Liu was asked by the news service about the meeting.
A week later, Blackstone, in a press release, reiterated its disavowals of Wien’s position, saying, “We oppose scapegoating public employees by blaming them for the structural budget deficits that cities and states face.”
Despite that, Treasurer Joseph Alejandro last month proposed that future money managers for the city’s pension funds be fired if they disparage such pension funds.
A PBA spokesman told The Post that the union voted for Permal based on Liu’s recommendation the firm as the best overall candidate.
Blackstone and Permal both declined to comment.