Blackstone Group elevates India PE head Amit Dixit to head of Asia PE

Global private equity major Blackstone Group has elevated Amit Dixit , senior managing director, co-head of Asia Acquisitions, and head of India for Blackstone Private Equity to the post of Asia private equity head, among a series of international promotions, Wall Street Journal said in a report.

Dixit received an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.Tech. from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Dixit joined Blackstone in 2007 from another US-based PE major Warburg Pincus.

Blackstone did not offer any comments for the story .

Blackstone also appointed Martin Brand as head of North America private equity and Peter Wallace as global head of core private equity, WSJ said, quoting Joseph Barrata, board member and global head of PE.

Under Dixit, Blackstone did many big ticket deals. In December, it signed a deal to acquire Piramal Glass from Ajay Piramal group at an enterprise valuation of Rs 7,500 crore.

Last year, it also signed a term sheet to acquire the commercial portfolio of Prestige Estates Projects for $1.23 billion.

From 2006 till last year, Blackstone had committed $15.2 billion of investments in the country through private equity, real estate and tactical opportunities funds.

At $112 billion in assets, the firm’s private-equity business, which includes its flagship buyout funds, its Asia funds, its long-term investing strategy and its energy business, is the biggest of its kind in the world.

The division’s assets, which represent more than 17 percent of Blackstone’s total, have more than doubled since Joseph Baratta was named global head of the business in 2012, WSJ said.

In 2019, Blackstone finished raising a record $26 billion buyout fund.

Last year, another American PE giant KKR elevated Sanjay Nayar, the CEO of its Indian arm, as chairman.