Blackstone Group’s Stephen Schwarzman yesterday gave SAC Capital Advisors’ Steve Cohen a little Valentine’s Day kiss.
Blackstone, which has $550 million invested with Cohen’s $14 billion hedge-fund empire, cut a deal to keep the “vast majority” of its money with Cohen’s SAC for at least another three months, The Post has learned.
Under his deal, Schwarzman’s $210 billion investment powerhouse now has until mid-May to decide whether it wants to redeem its investment in SAC by Dec. 31.
“We will use this period of time to evaluate all additional information which becomes available,” Blackstone spokesman Peter Rose said of the roughly 100 extra days’ grace period.
The extra time, a plan that Blackstone crafted for itself, was extended to all SAC clients in a letter to investors late Wednesday, said a person familiar with the deal.
If other investors jump on board, the grace period will give Cohen some breathing room from redemption threats amid an insider-trading scandal that has left a cloud hanging over SAC since last year.
The original deadline for complete withdrawals by year’s end was yesterday. Investors who eschewed Cohen’s offer and pulled the plug yesterday will get their money in 25-percent chunks quarterly through Dec. 31.
Investors who took the deal will be allowed to take their money out in one-third chunks every quarter until year’s end — putting them on the same footing as investors who sent notice to redeem yesterday.
Cohen’s firm has been under scrutiny since former SAC portfolio manager Mathew Martoma was arrested last November on insider trading charges.
The FBI continues to probe SAC, sources said.
Cohen has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but prosecutors said he participated in Martoma’s allegedly illicit trade, which netted SAC $276 million.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said it is considering whether to sue SAC over the same trade.