BGH hires Blackstone Australia executive
BGH, the Australia and New Zealand-focused private equity firm set up by former TPG Capital Asia co-head Ben Gray, has hired Jonathan Chamberlain, a managing director at The Blackstone Group, as a partner.
Chamberlain has been with Blackstone since 2013, and has been actively involved in the firm's investments in Australian chemicals company Ixom and Antares Restaurant Group. He will join a growing team that also includes Stephanie Charles, previously an investment banker with Credit Suisse, who is head of capital markets and a deal partner, and Terry Bowen, the former CFO at Wesfarmers who now leads the operations group.
Gray joined BGH last year alongside Simon Harle, also previously of TPG, and Robin Bishop, former head of Australia and New Zealand at Macquarie Capital. The firm closed its debut fund earlier this year at the hard cap of around A$2.6 billion ($2 billion), with an LP base comprising mainly overseas investors; AustralianSuper was the sole significant domestic participant.
BGH targets mid-market transactions, while maintaining the scale required to execute larger buyouts and the flexibility to pursue smaller growth deals. It prefers situations where there is a significant opportunity to support growth or to effect operational improvement.
The firm was one of the bidders aiming to acquire Australian hospital operator Healthscope earlier this year, leading a consortium that offered A$4.1 billion for the company. Healthscope ultimately rejected both the BGH consortium's bid and one made by Brookfield Asset Management, instead agreeing to sell its Asia pathology assets to TPG Capital last month.
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