17.

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Commitments

Investment Commitments

Blackstone had $1.5 billion of investment commitments as of September 30, 2013 representing general partner capital funding commitments to the Blackstone Funds, limited partner capital funding to other funds and Blackstone principal investment commitments. The consolidated Blackstone Funds had signed investment commitments of $73.4 million as of September 30, 2013 which includes $35.4 million of signed investment commitments for portfolio company acquisitions in the process of closing.

Contingencies

Guarantees

Certain of Blackstone’s consolidated real estate funds guarantee payments to third parties in connection with the on-going business activities and/or acquisitions of their Portfolio Companies. There is no direct recourse to the Partnership to fulfill such obligations. To the extent that underlying funds are required to fulfill guarantee obligations, the Partnership’s invested capital in such funds is at risk. Total investments at risk in respect of guarantees extended by consolidated real estate funds was $4.0 million as of September 30, 2013.

On March 28, 2012, the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships entered into a guaranty agreement with a lending institution in which the Holdings Partnerships guarantee certain loans held by employees for investment in Blackstone Funds. The amount guaranteed as of September 30, 2013 was $56.9 million.

Litigation

From time to time, Blackstone is named as a defendant in legal actions relating to transactions conducted in the ordinary course of business. Although there can be no assurance of the outcome of such legal actions, in the opinion of management, Blackstone does not have a potential liability related to any current legal proceeding or claim that would individually or in the aggregate materially affect its results of operations, financial position or cash flows.

Contingent Obligations (Clawback)

Carried Interest is subject to clawback to the extent that the Carried Interest received to date exceeds the amount due to Blackstone based on cumulative results. The actual clawback liability, however, generally does not become realized until the end of a fund’s life except for certain Blackstone real estate funds and multi-asset class investment funds, which may have an interim clawback liability. The lives of the carry funds with a potential clawback obligation, including available contemplated extensions, are currently anticipated to expire at various points through 2018. Further extensions of such terms may be implemented under given circumstances.

For financial reporting purposes, the general partners have recorded a liability for potential clawback obligations to the limited partners of some of the carry funds due to changes in the unrealized value of a fund’s remaining investments and where the fund’s general partner has previously received Carried Interest distributions with respect to such fund’s realized investments.

The following table presents the clawback obligations by segment:


	September 30, 2013						December 31, 2012
Segment	Blackstone Holdings		Current and Former Personnel		Total		Blackstone Holdings		Current and Former Personnel		Total
Private Equity	$	70,510	$	57,352	$	127,862	$	69,302	$	133,852	$	203,154
Real Estate		26,784		748		27,532		32,152		31,223		63,375
Credit		1,321		971		2,292		340		247		587

Total	$	98,615	$	59,071	$	157,686	$	101,794	$	165,322	$	267,116

A portion of the Carried Interest paid to current and former Blackstone personnel is held in segregated accounts in the event of a cash clawback obligation. These segregated accounts are not included in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of the Partnership, except to the extent a portion of the assets held in the segregated accounts may be allocated to a consolidated Blackstone fund of hedge funds. At September 30, 2013, $442.7 million was held in segregated accounts for the purpose of meeting any clawback obligations of current and former personnel if such payments are required.