Blackstone Names Chae to monitor Private Equity in Asia amid faster growth

Blackstone Group LP named Michael Chae, senior managing director of private equity group, to conduct the business of the company buying the investment in Asia.

Chae, 42, will also be responsible for marketing to customers in the region, while Ben Jenkins, will continue to focus on trying to decisions, Blackstone, said in a statement from New York. Antony Leung remains chairman of Blackstone Greater China and will join the company's executive committee.

Private equity firms are trying to take advantage of faster economic growth in Asia after investors' appetite for shopping in the U.S. dropped following the global financial crisis. Blackstone in 2009 announced a partnership with Shanghai Pudong Government to raise a private equity fund in renminbi.

"As our business continues to globalize, Asia is becoming increasingly central to the company," said Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone's chief executive, said in a statement.

Blackstone, based in New York, last year was the first global private equity firm to create a fund with the Chinese government, agreeing to a company at 5 billion yuan ($ 750 million) to guide joint investment in Shanghai and surrounding areas.

The company has 157 employees in Asia, with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Mumbai. Chae, who joined Blackstone in 1997, led investments including Hilton Hotels and The Weather Channel Cos., the firm said.

Carlyle Group private equity firm's second largest after Blackstone said in July that raised 2.4 billion yuan to a fund of Beijing, its second fund denominated in yuan. In an interview on December 3, co-founder William Conway said he hoped the Washington-based company to add at least one more at the same time and marketing.