TPG hires Chang Sun as China head

Sun joined Warburg Pincus in 1995 and helped establish the firm’s China and North Asia operation. He departed in 2015 to form Black Soil, with to driving consolidation in Chinese agriculture by securing long-term leases over land from farmers and developing a US-style industrialized model for the sector. The firm sought to raise a $1 billion private equity fund but later it shifted its focus to the operational side and worked on a deal-by-deal basis.  

In his new role, Sun will oversee TPG's buyout, growth equity and social investing businesses in China under TPG Capital Asia, TPG Growth, and The Rise Fund. “Chang’s appointment is an important addition to TPG’s strong and growing regional leadership team, and further underscores the strategic importance of Greater China to the firm as we continue to grow and evolve,” said Jon Winkelried, co-CEO of TPG, in a statement.

TPG currently is seeking $4-4.5 billion for its seventh pan-Asian fund, which will target buyouts, growth equity, structured transactions and platform builds in China, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Korea. Recent Greater China investments include bike-sharing start-up Mobike, used car trading platform Uxin, Hong Kong telecom services provider Wharf T&T, and Taiwan healthcare player OPC Holding.

There has been some turnover in TPG's senior team since the previous fundraise, with Australia head Ben Gray leaving to launch his own firm and former Greater China co-chairman Sing Wang departing for China Minsheng Financial Holdings. Meanwhile, the GP brought in Sanghoon Lee from Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia and Joel Thickins from CHAMP Private Equity to lead operations in Korea and Australia, respectively.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• People
• China
• TPG Capital
• Appointments
• Black Soil Capital Partners
• Warburg Pincus Asia