BlackRock taps ex-Campbell Lutyens exec to lead APAC alts

George Maltezos, the former head of APAC for Campbell Lutyens, is joining BlackRock, Private Equity International has learned.

Maltezos will join as head of BlackRock Alternatives Specialists in Singapore, effective Monday, according to a spokesperson for the asset manager. This role will see Maltezos lead distribution of alternatives through the region.

Maltezos will report to David Lomas, global head of BlackRock Alternatives Specialists, and Michael Dennis, head of alternatives strategy and capital markets for APAC. His arrival at BlackRock coincides with the promotion of James Mellors, who had been head of BAS APAC since 2015, to global head of real estate product strategy, the spokesperson said.

PEI on Tuesday reported Maltezos’ departure from Campbell Lutyens. He had joined the placement agent and advisory firm as a Hong Kong-based partner in 2016 and, in addition to his head of APAC role, served as head of sales in APAC with specific responsibility for institutional relationships in Australia and New Zealand, as well as throughout Asia.

BlackRock Alternatives has over 1,200 global staff overseeing more than $320 billion across credit, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and hedge funds. BlackRock’s private equity activity in Asia-Pacific has historically been largely confined to growth equity. The firm invests in the region through global commingled vehicles and separately managed accounts.

APAC alternatives strategy head Dennis told PEI in 2021 that the unit would not rule out a dedicated private equity strategy in the region amid plans to almost double its annual private markets deployment in the region.

“We’re putting a substantial amount in the ground on an annual basis and we’re actually expecting that to grow significantly over the next two to three years,” Dennis said at the time. “Our target is really for that to be $2 billion-plus. We see from our global pools of capital an increasing demand for Asian assets and that’s why we expect to see this ramping up of private deployment in the region.”

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