The Difference Between A Hedge Fund and a Public-Traded Utility

by dave | Mon, 01/25/2010 - 12:13pm

According to Bloomberg a chalk drawing by Raphael was the most expensive piece of art bought last year.  It sold for a cool $47.5 million to a dude named Leon Black.  Black runs the Apollo Management, the private equity firm which owns aluminum Noranda.

 

Noranda has famously warred with AmerenUE over electric rates.  One observer mused if AUE president Tom Voss engaged in any sort of conspicuous consumption there’d be howls of outrage.  And maybe, they joked, if Black hadn’t spent all that money on art, Noranda wouldn’t feel so pinched by their electric bill.

 

Comments

by ochiboy84 | Sat, 08/21/2010 - 8:15am

These guys do these things just for a show. According to Forbes Mr. Black wealth is worth
2.5b . So that is like a drop in the bucket for him. He as the money and i think it was a good buy.
This as gotten him more in the spotlight because I did not know about him until he bought this art work.

Talk about that little kid on the block that only owns a BMX bicycle.
bout that kid on the the block that only owns a BMX bicycle.

by silicon | Sun, 04/04/2010 - 7:28pm

@Pamela- What do you mean by you don't know why he had interest in buying expensive pieces of art? Almost of rich people try to seek to diversify their portfolios by investing in fine art pieces. A lot of my friends do this as well. One of my friends who works for a mac data recovery firm spends most of his earnings on art. You don't have to like art to even want to invest in art. As far as I see it, it is a pretty sound undertaking.

by PamelaMax | Tue, 02/02/2010 - 8:28pm

You mean, Raphael the painter? If he is what you're talking about, his art works are really expensive even priceless. I cannot understand why an owner of aluminum company had interest in buying an art worth $47.5. Maybe he just had nothing to do with his money. According to research paper and paper writing I've read as of December 2008, Apollo managed over US$37 billion of investor commitments across its private equity funds and other investment vehicles making it one of the