Blackstone appoints Australia head

The Blackstone Group has appointed James Carnegie as senior managing director and head of Australian operations, according to a spokeswoman for the firm.

Carnegie has been serving as Blackstone's senior advisor for Australia since September 2012.

Prior to that, he was at Australian buyout firm Archer Capital for seven years and sat on the investment committee for its A$450 million (€295 million; $401 million) Fund III and A$1.36 billion Fund IV. He left Archer in 2011. Carnegie also previously worked at Macquarie Capital in its principal investment area.

In the last year, Blackstone has had several senior personnel transitions in Asia. In December, Paul Costello, non-executive chairman of Blackstone Australia and New Zealand operations, resigned after only two years in the role, according to local reports. Costello joined the firm from Australian superannuation fund Future Fund in October 2011 to help grow Blackstone’s business in the Australasian region.

In the closing months of 2013, the firm announced Akhil Gupta, chairman and senior managing director of Blackstone in India, was leaving his position. Prior to that, Antony Leung, Blackstone's Greater China chairman and senior managing director, resigned from the firm after seven years of service.

In January 2013, Gautam Banerjee, the former executive chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore, was appointed chairman of Blackstone’s Singapore office, which formally opened in October and will serve as a regional hub for Southeast Asia.