Departing GE Executive Steve Bolze Joins Blackstone's New Infrastructure Unit
August 02 2017 - 7:29PM
Dow Jones News
By Ryan Dezember and Thomas Gryta
Steve Bolze, a General Electric Co. executive who announced his
departure in June, is joining Blackstone Group LP to help run its
new infrastructure-investing business.
Mr. Bolze, 54 years old, worked at GE for nearly 25 years,
including 11 as head of its power business. He said upon his
departure from GE that he would leave in October after being passed
over for the chief executive job, which went to another longtime GE
executive, John Flannery.
In an interview Wednesday, Mr. Bolze said he plans to join
Blackstone in mid-October as head of portfolio operations and asset
management in the Wall Street firm's infrastructure group. He will
report to Blackstone deal maker Sean Klimczak, who was recently
tapped to launch the biggest new business line in the firm's
32-year history.
Mr. Klimczak called Mr. Bolze "a world-class operator who we
know will hit the ground running."
Blackstone in May unveiled plans for a $40 billion
infrastructure investment fund, after Saudi Arabia's Public
Investment Fund said it would seed the Blackstone fund with $20
billion. The Saudi commitment alone is larger than any existing
infrastructure fund.
Blackstone executives have said they plan to start raising the
rest of the money later this year and could begin investing in
early 2018. The fund would have a buying power of about $100
billion once debt is added to the mix.
"It's going to be able to play at a scale that others haven't
seen yet," Mr. Bolze said.
In hiring Mr. Bolze, Blackstone has made a hire befitting its
ambitions. After joining in 1993, the triathlete rose through the
ranks at GE to become the head of the company's largest unit. He
helped GE make more than 10 times its money on its 2005 purchase of
Enron Corp.'s wind-power business, shepherded high-efficiency
turbines to market and pushed for the acquisition of Alstom SA's
power business. As head of GE's power business, Mr. Bolze traveled
the world, selling GE's services and the turbines it builds. He
also held various leadership roles within GE's health-care
unit.
Hospitals, power plants and wind farms all figure to be in the
mix at Blackstone, where Mr. Bolze will not only help source and
vet potential investments, but will also work with executives at
each company or project in which the infrastructure fund
invests.
Write to Ryan Dezember at ryan.dezember@wsj.com and Thomas Gryta
at thomas.gryta@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 02, 2017 19:14 ET (23:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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