Blackstone Teams with Former Citizens Bank CEO
Former Citizens Financial chief Steve Steinour is in talks to raise a private equity fund in partnership with The Blackstone Group, with a focus on distressed banks and other financial services companies. Sources say the partnership is still in its early stages, and that both sides recognize the difficulty of raising a “multi-billion dollar” fund in the current environment. Steinour originally joined Citizens in 1992, and a decade later was put in charge of the firm’s expansion south of New England (including Pennsylvania retail banking ops bought from Mellon for $2 billion). Next came a vice chairmanship, and the CEO role in 2005, when Larry Fish kicked himself upstairs. Steinour officially left Citizens this past spring, to join Boston-based alternative asset manager CrossHarbor Capital Partners. His goal was to help the real estate-focused firm launch a private equity program, and the Blackstone talks began sometime later. It is unclear how the new fund is being branded, but a source says that Steinour himself “will remain under the CrossHarbor umbrella,” with Blackstone
