A trio of major alternative investment firms reported big declines in second-quarter profits yesterday.
 
The Blackstone Group saw its net economic income plummet 75%, while hedge funds  Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and GLG Partners posted net losses on charges related to their debuts as public companies.

Blackstone said net economic income fell to $165.5 million from $655 million a year earlier. The firm blamed the global drop-off in private equity deals for the decline, as the value of deals announced by the firm fell by almost 80% to just $2.1 billion. Still, the firm easily bested analysts’ expectations, thanks to strong performance in its hedge fund group, which saw its profit rise 34% to $225.2 million.

Och-Ziff announced a $60.8 million quarterly loss due to $321.2 million in costs related to its initial public offering last year. Excluding those reorganization costs, economic income rose 15% to $93.3 million as revenues rose 23% to $147.1 million. The New York-based firm said assets under management were flat at $33.6 billion.

GLG also finished the quarter in the red due to expenses related to going public. The firm reported some $140.3 million in non-cash compensation-related charges from its reverse merger in November, leaving it with a $93.6 million. London-based, New York-listed GLG will take similar, but diminishing, charges for the next four-and-a-half years.

GLG posted a $124.4 million profit in Q2 last year, before it went public. Excluding the charge, GLG exceeded analysts’ expectations.

But the extraordinary expenses are not solely to blame for the firm’s loss: GLG said performance fees fell 77% on the quarter, while net revenue and other income fell 54.8%.