Pershing hires Blackstone to boost Longs price- WSJ

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Pershing Square Capital Management on Friday hired Blackstone Group to help it drive up the purchase price for Longs Drug Stores Corp LDG.N, the Wall Street Journal said in its online edition, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Officials at neither U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group (BX.N), nor activist hedge fund Pershing Square Capital, could immediately be reached for comment.

Longs agreed on Tuesday to be acquired by CVS Caremark Corp (CVS.N) for about $2.5 billion, or $71.50 a share, a significant premium to Longs' closing price that day.

Pershing Square, through common stock and private contracts called swaps, has an economic interest in Longs equivalent to almost 26 percent of the drug store chain's outstanding shares, the report said.

Pershing Square has been approached by a real-estate investor that claims it could earn more money selling unwanted Longs sites than CVS could on its own, according to the person familiar with the matter, the Journal said.

The potential extra income from such sales could make the assets of Longs more valuable than the current purchase price would indicate, the Journal said, citing the source. (Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Gary Hill)