The endorsement of the Rockefellers (who nowadays own only a tiny slice of Exxon, though it is the family's biggest shareholding) is raising hopes of breaking through the 50% ceiling, as does the support of three of the leading firms that advise institutional shareholders on how to vote their proxies.
Even so, the payout that Mr Lund is likely to receive, alongside the boost he will receive to his income from his BG Group shareholdings, could raise eyebrows.
A drop in the government's shareholding from 100% to 50% raises the return on assets by about 24%, according to a recent study by Saibal Ghosh of the Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank.The rebranded Hindustan Latex shows how public enterprises can evolve, if given the freedom to do so.
It was immediately indicated that the Treasury, which would receive £4.4bn for the government's 36% shareholding in BE, would use the money raised to top up the fund set aside to decommission the existing nuclear plants.
Foreign shareholding was originally limited to 15 percent but later raised to 29.5 percent.
The market's current, historically unprecedented, valuations have greatly raised the worth of these dispersed shareholdings.
The same potential conflict of interest is raised by the central bank's big shareholding in INA, an insurance company.
Knight Vinke has been gradually raising its shareholding, and now has just below 9%.
A spokesman for JC Flowers confirmed there were no plans to raise the shareholding.
Happily for Mr Schwarzman, the Chinese government recently decided to raise its shareholding in Blackstone, despite the plunge in the value of its investment.Whether his optimism proves to be justified may depend on how quickly the leading economies get back on their feet and whether this happens before serious damage is done to some of the indebted companies in Blackstone's portfolio.
