“I’d be surprised if it wasn’t a strong ‘yes’ vote,” Schwarzman told reporters in Dublin.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged his country’s voters on national television to reject austerity measures in the planned July 5 poll. Greece’s creditor institutions view the referendum as an issue for reaching an accord with the nation’s government, according to a European Union official.

Blackstone is among investors hoping for an end to the standoff in Greece that’s already prompted the country to shutter its banks and impose capital controls to stanch deposit withdrawals. In the event of Greek voters rejecting creditors’ demands, the nation’s financial system would have to be supported, Schwarzman said.

“The pattern of withdrawals that have been fully covered by ECB loans would suggest that without those loans you’d have a collapse of the banking system,” Schwarzman said. “How the ECB and Europe would transition that is something that I don’t know.”

James Lockhart, vice-chairman of U.S. billionaire Wilbur Ross’s WL Ross & Co., which has invested in Greek assets, said a “no” vote would spell Greece’s exit from the euro currency.

Euro End

Investors “want a ‘yes’ vote,” Lockhart said on “Bloomberg Surveillance” on Wednesday. “A ‘no’ vote will be the end of the euro and the re-emergence of the drachma,” stalling investments and adding to import costs.

Ross’s firm is among a group of investors nursing losses after they invested a combined 1.3 billion euros ($1.44 billion) into Athens-based Eurobank Ergasias SA. Ross bought 37.5 million euros of shares in Eurobank at 30 cents each last year. They’re now trading at less than half that price.

Blackstone’s Schwarzman said he expected contagion from a Greek exit from the euro region would be contained. Blackstone has bought distressed real estate assets in Ireland with the economy starting to rebound from its property crash of 2008.

In Ireland, Blackstone is “more in the fix-it stage than the sell-it stage,” Schwarzman said.