Blackstone profit tops view; sees more deals ahead

By Megan Davies

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP posted a forecast-beating quarterly profit on Friday and said it is gearing up for more deals and IPOs as the lending and equity markets recover.

The company, which has immense real estate and private equity assets, has stepped up deal activity in the past few months, including buying Anheuser-Busch InBev's U.S. theme parks for up to $2.7 billion.

"Our pipeline of new deals is growing substantially," Blackstone Chief Operating Officer Tony James said on a conference call.

He said Blackstone has $27 billion of "dry powder" -- capital available for investment. The lion's share is in its real estate and private equity funds.

It is considering initial public offerings for a number of its companies, and expects the IPO window to stay open at least until the beginning of next year. Opportunities to sell to strategic buyers have also been increasing.

One recent sale Blackstone struck was a deal in September to sell soft drinks firm Orangina to Japanese brewer Suntory. Proceeds from that deal totaled about $705 million, according to a recent letter it sent to investors in its funds.

The pick-up is the latest sign of improvement in the private equity industry, which has struggled to keep portfolio companies healthy during the recession and has had limited access to financing for new deals.

On Thursday the biggest leveraged buyout this year was struck: Blackstone rival TPG and the Canada Pension Plan agreed to buy IMS Health Inc for $4 billion.