Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE:HLT) announced on July 3rd that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with The Blackstone Group’s (NYSE:BX) real estate and corporate private equity funds in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $26 billion.

The soon to be established state foreign exchange investment company ("State Investment Company") in China and The Blackstone Group L.P. ("Blackstone") announced on May 20th that the State Investment Company has agreed to make a $3 billion investment in Blackstone in the form of non-voting common units.

The Blackstone Group L.P. announced today that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of common units representing limited partner interests in The Blackstone Group. The firm intends to apply to list its common units on the New York Stock Exchange.