Private Equity Professionals

Blackstone’s Asia PE head relocates to US

As Michael Chae returns to New York, Asia responsibilities are reassigned.

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The Blackstone Group’s head of international private equity Michael Chae is leaving Asia to return to New York after building the firm’s business in Asia for the last three years, a spokeswoman for the firm has confirmed.

From New York, Chae will continue to oversee Blackstone’s private equity activities in Asia-Pacific and be responsible for media and communications sector investments. He will also help oversee the investment process for Tactical Opportunities division, working closely with the group's deal teams.

In December 2010, Chae was appointed to his current position in Asia in order to develop Blackstone's business in the region. He coordinated firm-wide relationships with Blackstone’s most important regional LPs, was responsible for several senior hires and oversaw the opening of a 30-person Singapore office.

Yi Luo, formerly with the Carlyle Group in China, and Ed Huang, previously with Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia in Hong Kong, will now lead Blackstone’s China investments. They both joined the firm in 2012.

Jan Nielsen, Hong Kong-based senior managing director in the private equity group, will oversee the rest of Asia, according to an internal memo published in the media.

In the last 15 months, Blackstone has had several senior personnel transitions in Asia, which Private Equity International reported on.

In January, James Carnegie was appointed as senior managing director and head of Australian operations. Carnegie had been serving as Blackstone's senior advisor for Australia since September 2012. 

In December, Paul Costello, non-executive chairman of Blackstone Australia and New Zealand operations, resigned after only two years in the role, according to local reports. Costello joined the firm from Australian superannuation fund Future Fund in October 2011 to help grow Blackstone’s business in the Australasian region.
In the closing months of 2013, the firm announced Akhil Gupta, chairman and senior managing director of Blackstone in India, was leaving his position. 
Prior to that, Antony Leung, Blackstone's Greater China chairman and senior managing director, resigned from the firm after seven years of service.
In January 2013, Gautam Banerjee, the former executive chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore, was appointed chairman of Blackstone’s Singapore office, which formally opened in October and serves as a regional hub for Southeast Asia.

The firm was also involved in the second largest deal in China last year. In October, Blackstone led a consortium that intends to privatise NASDAQ-listed Pactera Technology, a global IT consulting firm headquartered in China, in a deal valued at $625 million, PEI reported earlier.