Private Equity News & Analysis

Blackstone hires 12 for Asia advisory unit

The publicly listed private equity firm has plucked three former Lehman Brothers specialists to create a mergers and acquisitions advisory group in Hong Kong and Beijing.

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US private equity giant The Blackstone Group has hired 12 employees to create the firm’s first mergers and acquisitions advisory unit in Asia.

The group, which will be primarily based in Hong Kong but also will maintain a presence in Beijing, will include three alumni of now-defunct investment bank Lehman Brothers: Anthony Steains, who will become a partner at Blackstone, and Johan van Jaarsveld and Dong Hyun Lee, who will both become managing directors.

Jianping Zheng and Jing Xiaowen, both formerly of HSBC, have also been hired as partner and managing director, respectively.  

New York-based Blackstone has significantly expanded its M&A, corporate, restructuring and reorganisation advisory services in recent years in an attempt to grow and diversify the firm’s revenue sources beyond its core private equity franchise.

Earlier this month, the firm tapped former Citigroup investment banker Ivan Brockman to lead the firm’s Silicon Valley M&A advisory services for both large and small companies in the technology sector. Brockman was co-head of West Coast technology investment for Citigroup.