NB strengthens Asia platform with PE hire

Global asset management firm Neuberger Berman has hired private equity fundraising specialist Clifford Chiu to join its Asia Pacific team, according to a statement.

Chiu joins from private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which he left in June this year to retire and “return to the US with his family”, said an earlier KKR internal memo seen by Private Equity International.

However, Chiu will now work as a senior advisor to Neuberger Berman across Asian markets, continuing to build the firm’s client base.

Although he will not be solely focused on private equity, “given his background and the strength of the Neuberger Berman Private Equity platform, we anticipate there to be synergies in private equity,” a spokesman for the firm told PEI.

Neuberger’s alternatives platform, which includes private equity, has about $31 billion in assets under management as of 30 June 2014.

At KKR, Chiu and his team raised close to $15 billion in commitments from institutional investors in Greater China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and Australia, for various KKR private equity funds, including the $6 billion KKR Asia Fund II that closed in July last year.

“We are delighted to welcome Clifford to our team in Asia and learn from his vast insights as we continue to expand our presence in this region,” said Nick Hoar, managing director and head of Asia Pacific for Neuberger Berman.

Chiu joined KKR in 2007 and led the firm’s investor relations and capital raising activities in Asia. Previously, he was a managing director at JPMorgan Asset Management in Hong Kong and had also held the positions of head of investment banking Hong Kong and the same in Japan for Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup.