Exclusive - TPG shuffles top Asia management, Dattels becomes co-head

By Stephen Aldred

HONG KONG (Reuters) - TPG Capital senior partner Tim Dattels, a former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) banker, is moving back to Asia to be co-head of the global private equity firm's regional operations, as current Asia head Stephen Peel steps away from day-to-day management.

TPG (TPG.UL) is also promoting Ben Gray, a former Credit Suisse (VTX:CSGN) banker as the other co-head for the region along with Dattels.

The senior management reshuffle comes as TPG's latest pan-Asia fundraising, its sixth for the region, has struggled to gain momentum, even as rival KKR & Co (NYS:KKR) closed a record $6 billion for a similar fund in July.

Dattels, a director of BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO), is relocating to Hong Kong from San Francisco. He was involved in many of TPG's Asian investments, including hospitals operator Parkway Holdings and Indonesia's Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (JKT:BTPN).

"In the last few years I've been building up our Singapore office and the Indonesian practice. Now I'm extending that into North Asia," Dattels told Reuters in an interview.

TPG's BTPN investment is among the most profitable private equity deals in the region, and the firm is on course to make more then 10 times its initial investment when it fully exits the stake.

Gray, the Harvard-educated son of the former conservative premier of the Australian state of Tasmania, Robin Gray, has been steadily expanding his role at TPG. An adept politician himself according to TPG insiders, Gray moved to Singapore from Melbourne last year to take responsibility for Southeast Asia as well as Australia.

Peel, a managing partner who came to Asia in 2008 to run Asia, is in talks with TPG founders David Bonderman and Jim Coulter about a new role, potentially covering emerging markets and Europe, a person familiar with the talks said.

But he will no longer be involved in fundraising or management for Asia, the person added, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential.

ASIA VETERAN

Dattels, who took on a role with TPG after moving to San Francisco, is a an old Asia hand, having run Goldman Sachs' investment bank operations in Asia ex-Japan from 1996 to 2000.

"I'm fond of saying private equity learned lessons following the model of overseas Chinese families, taking major stakes in companies, control positions, and trying to add value to operations," Dattels added.

TPG launched its latest Asia fund in late 2011, shortly ahead of its rival KKR. But while KKR rapidly raised Asia's largest ever private equity fund at $6 billion, TPG is expected to raise around $2.5 billion to $3 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Dattels declined to comment on details of TPG's latest fundraising because Securities and Exchange Commission regulations prohibit advertising such activity.

TPG has requested an extension to its fundraising period to March to allow some investors time to join the fund, people familiar with the discussions said.

However, the firm has already made three investments from the new fund, which is already showing profit.

TPG acquired Ingham Chickens in Australia, a stake in China's Phoenix Satellite Television , and invested $108.6 million in U.S.-listed China property company Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd (NYS:XIN).

(Editing by Denny Thomas and Stephen Coates)