Morgan Stanley Asia private equity unit to reorganise as CEO retires

By Kane Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) -Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia (PEA) is reorganising its teams in the region as its current chief executive of Asia Chin Chou is retiring, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.

Morgan Stanley will carve out a China-focused team from the rest of the region that focuses on investments in onshore and offshore China, according to the memo.

The firm has appointed Jun Xu, who is currently head of its yuan-denominated investment funds, to lead all private equity investing in China, the memo said.

Xu joined Morgan Stanley in 2005 and has led the expansion of the yuan-denominated private equity business in China since joining Private Equity Asia in 2008.

Nirav Mehta and Arjun Saigal, currently co-heads of India PE, will take the role of co-heads of PEA ex-China, which will still invest across the region with India as its core focus, Morgan Stanley said in the memo.

A spokesperson for the firm confirmed the content of the memo.

Chou will be retiring after a 35-year career with the Wall Street bank's private equity arm, with stints in its New York office in the late 1980s before coming to Asia in the 1990s to establish the business.

He served on the firm's Asia-Pacific Executive Committee and is a key leader in its five regional private equity funds in addition to overseeing the creation of the China yuan and Thai Funds.

Andrew Hawkyard will also retire after 24 years with the PE Asia unit, most recently serving as the unit's chief investment officer, the memo said.

Morgan Stanley PEA has raised five private equity funds for the region since 1999, totalling more than $4 billion, public disclosures show.

The fourth Asia fund closed in 2014 at $1.7 billion, the largest fund PEA has raised to date, according to the bank's disclosures.

In 2018, the firm also raised over $440 million for a Thailand-focused fund in partnership with Bangkok Bank in 2018, it said then.

The Asia private equity team invests primarily in highly structured minority investments and buyouts for controlling stakes in growth-oriented companies, Morgan Stanley's website said.

(Reporting by Kane Wu; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christian Schmollinger)