Lefei Liu resigns as chairman of CITIC Private Equity

Liu was instrumental in the creation of CITIC PE in 2008, also serving as a director of parent company CITIC Securities. Dongming Wang, chairman of CITIC Security, will now assume the same role at the private equity unit.

"There will be no operational change within CITIC PE because Liu will still be CEO," the source said. "This is basically a move to bring the private equity arm closer to CITIC Group in order to leverage its networks."

Liu is the son of Yunshan Liu, director of the Communist Party Central Committee's propaganda department and a member of the Politburo, the party's senior leadership body. He is seen as a frontrunner to join the Politburo Standing Committee during the leadership reshuffle set to take place this autumn.

Children of influential government officials often find their way into senior posts with state-owned enterprises and a number are active in private equity.

It wouldn't be the first time the child of a political figure has stepped back (on paper, at least) supposedly for the sake of the parent. Winston Wen Yunsong, son of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, was a co-founder of New Horizon Capital, but left in 2010 to become chairman of state-owned China Satellite Communications Corp (SATCOM).

Other children of senior government officials currently active in private equity include: Jeffrey Zeng, son of former planning chief Zeng Peiyan, who is managing partner of Kaixin Investment and senior managing director at CITIC Capital; Alvin Jiang, grandson of former President Jiang Zemin, who works for Boyu Capital; and Jeffrey Li, son of former Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) head Li Ruihan, who is CEO of GL Capital.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• People
• China
• Citic Private Equity