Carlyle Executive Tsou Is Said to Retire From Hong Kong Office
Carlyle Executive Tsou Is Said to Retire From Hong Kong Office
(Bloomberg) -- Carlyle Group LP Managing Director Wayne Tsou is retiring from the firm, according to people familiar with the matter.
Tsou, who is based in Hong Kong and joined Carlyle in 2004 to begin its growth equity investing efforts in Asia, will remain somewhat involved with the firm in an advisory capacity, according to one of the people. A Carlyle representative declined to comment.
His departure comes at a period of change as Carlyle’s new co-chief executive officers, Glenn Youngkin and Kewsong Lee, tighten the focus of its offshore businesses. Earlier this month, Bloomberg News reported Carlyle is parting ways with two senior real estate executives -- Adam Metz, who was head of international real estate and based in Washington, and Jason Lee, the company’s Hong Kong-based head of Asia real estate.
Already, Tsou had been relieved of some of his previous responsibilities: Xiang-Dong ‘XD’ Yang, chairman of Carlyle Asia, began overseeing the firm’s growth equity investments in the region late last year.
The firm’s latest Asia growth fund manages just $292 million, which is less than a third of its prior $1 billion fund raised in 2008, according to filings. The smaller size of the current fund likely reflects, at least in part, its lower-than-expected net internal rate of return, or IRR, of 7 percent. That performance was partly due to a loss on an investment in China Agritech Inc., which has since been delisted and become the subject of lawsuits alleging securities fraud.
Carlyle’s most recent Asia growth fund has made at least two investments to date, according to its website -- Venice-based high-end sneaker maker Golden Goose Deluxe Brand and Visionary RCM Infotech (India) Pvt. Ltd., which offers medical coding services.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Taub at dtaub@bloomberg.net, Peter Vercoe, Russell Ward
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.