Blackstone plans float to add to healthy second-quarter returns The battle for Billabong The Takeovers Panel begins its investigation into the battle for Billabong this week. The troubled Australian surf brand has struck a $395 million rescue deal with US private equity group Altamont Capital Partners, but there's a rival bid from hedge funds Oaktree and Centrebridge. Whoever wins has a tough job on their hands turning Billabong around. US private equity group Blackstone could raise as much as $US700 million ($764 million) from a public sale of 522 US shopping centres it acquired in 2011 as part of its $US9 billion rescue of Australian Centro Properties. The price is yet to be disclosed but the underlying value of the real estate sits at about $US13 billion. The planned float of the Brixmor Property Group, a subsidiary of Blackstone which owns the shares, would be one of the biggest offers by a shopping centre real estate investment trust since the Simon Property Group's $US840 million float in 1993. Blackstone owns a number of assets in Australia, including the Top Ryde shopping centre in Sydney. Brixmor has a debt facility of $US2.75 billion and in its latest result, revenue rose 2.3 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier to $US287.1 million, while the net loss narrowed to $US19.5 million from $US37.9 million. If successful, Blackstone may also look to float off its other assets, such as Hilton Worldwide hotels and office assets it acquired in 2007 through a takeover of Equity Office Properties. Last week, Blackstone president Tony James said: "Realisations in real estate continue to ramp up." In its second-quarter profit report on Friday, Blackstone chairman and chief executive Stephen Schwarzman said its overseas businesses had performed well. Blackstone owns a number of assets in Australia, including the Top Ryde shopping centre in Sydney and the recently acquired Greensborough centre in Melbourne. It has also been touted as a possible buyer of a hotel portfolio belonging to Brookfield. In addition, it owns the former Valad Property Group, which has a number of office assets that could be redeveloped into apartments. Last week, the Blackstone group lodged a registration statement relating to the proposed float but no price was declared. Brixmor owns 522 shopping centres across North America and is second in number of properties only to Kimco Realty. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo Securities are joint book-running managers for the offering. The sale of shares in Brixmor, probably "will raise $700 million or more," according to Renaissance Capital, a Connecticut research firm. The acquisition of these assets in 2005, for about $8 billion, by Centro under Andrew Scott, loaded the Australian group with the massive debt that it failed to repay in late 2007. However it survived and is now the profitable Federation Centres group in Australia. At the second-quarter profit report, Mr Schwarzman said: "In the second quarter, Blackstone doubled, revenues and tripled earnings compared to a year ago, as good returns in every one of our businesses drove higher performance fees ... These past three quarters have been the highest in distributable earnings since Blackstone went public six years ago."