The Blackstone Group completed the acquisition of NEC Group, the event venue-manager, from LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, for £800m. "Blackstone’s track record in scaling companies, sector knowledge and unrivalled real estate capabilities, make them the ideal new partner for NEC Group to realise the next phase of our ambitious growth strategy. All of our teams and partners look forward to working closely with the world class team as we embark on becoming the definitive name in events and exhibitions, while continuing to focus on innovations and new customer experience offerings for all our customer groups," Paul Thandi, NEC Group CEO.