Blackstone to Become Corporation as Assets Top $500 Billion (4)

Blackstone Group LP’s shares soared the most in two years after announcing plans to convert to a corporation from a publicly traded partnership, an instant reward from Stephen Schwarzman’s latest gambit to draw in a wider investor base.

Changing the company’s structure opens up the stock for inclusion in indexes and will increase the firm’s “ability to reach a dramatically larger audience,” Schwarzman, the chief executive officer, said April 18 in a Bloomberg Television interview.

“We’d handicapped ourselves by our corporate form,” he said. “We’ll make this easier for retail investors.”

Private equity firms including Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative ...