https://www.penews.com/articles/tpg-malaysi...buyout-20140206

TPG Hires Malaysian Prime Minister's Daughter for Asian Role
Buyout firm looks to high-profile family for Asia investor relations appointment

By Sonja Cheung and Shasha Dai
Thursday February 6, 2014 6:23 pm
TPG Capital hired the daughter of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as one of its investor relations professionals in Asia, said people familiar with the situation.

Nooryana Najwa Najib, one of two children from the prime minister's second marriage, is still earning her stripes as a private equity newcomer after graduating from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 2011. She holds a bachelor of science degree in foreign service, according to the university. The children of politicians have long found a path into major banks and private equity firms, but such hires have come under more scrutiny since news last year that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. was being investigated by U.S. and international regulators for its hiring in Asia. U.S. investigators are focused on whether the children of Chinese officials may have been hired in order to win business for the bank, according to The Wall Street Journal.

J.P. Morgan declined to comment.

TPG has taken the precaution of excluding Ms. Najib from involvement in any business the firm has in Malaysia, said an investor whose firm has previously backed TPG's Asian funds.

Ms. Najib couldn't be reached for comment.

Investor relations staff can play an important role in helping to raise capital and TPG is raising its sixth pan-Asian fund. The Fort Worth, Texas, firm spent most of last year struggling to secure new capital in the face of competition from other U.S. buyout houses, such as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. which was fundraising around the same time. Investors said TPG is roughly at the $2 billion mark for what could be a $3 billion or $3.5 billion fund, which would bring the firm in shy of its original $4 billion target.

In contrast, KKR secured a $6 billion final close for its second Asian-focused fund, KKR Asian II Fund, in July last year.

In China, "princelings" who are sons or daughters of political heavyweights are often employed at private equity houses to open doors to new deals, while the family name often draws investors' attention. China's princeling funds include Nepoch Capital, which was set up by the son of an ex-Politburo member, and New Horizon Capital, a private-equity firm co-founded by Winston Wen, the son of former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

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TPG has made several crucial hires in Asia in recent months. Last year, the firm tapped Senior Partner Tim Dattels to co-head its Asian operations, as a replacement to managing partner Stephen Peel. Hong Kong-based Mr. Peel previously oversaw TPG's activity in China and India. More recently, TPG last month appointed Ganen Sarvanathan, from Malaysian government investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd., as a partner and managing director in its Asian business.

In the last couple of years, Southeast Asia has become more important to private equity firms, which are betting on those countries' economic growth prospects, an expanding middle class and increased consumer spending power. Private equity firm Northstar Group, which counts TPG as one of its shareholders, is one general partner that invests in the region, and was set out to raise a $1 billion fund last year.