Blackstone, an American alternative investment management company, agreed to acquire a majority stake in Sony Payment Services, a credit card settlement firm, from Sony Bank, a Japanese commercial bank, for $280m. “Sony has been a longstanding partner to Blackstone. Our partnership goes all the way back to Blackstone’s founding nearly four decades ago – we started out as a boutique M&A firm, and Sony was one of our earliest clients. We are proud to once again partner with a leading corporation in Japan and deepen our presence in the country, a key market for Blackstone where we’ve cultivated valuable relationships based on trust and shared success,” Steve Schwarzman, Blackstone Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder.