US-based Blackstone Group has been a big, active investor in Asia’s private equity. The firm has a deep focus on five markets, including India, Greater China, Japan, Korea and Australia, while it remains opportunistic in Southeast Asia. Blackstone often takes large stakes in businesses in five core sectors — technology, consumer, healthcare, financial services and value-added industrials — with a view to ‘buy-and-build’ instead of ‘buy-and-sell’.
In an interview with DealStreetAsia, Blackstone Private Equity Asia head Amit Dixit said technology is the biggest theme for his team, with investments in companies such as Mphasis, an IT outsourcing firm; and IBS software, a technology solutions provider to the global travel industry. Its successful exits include business process outsourcing (BPO) firms TaskUs and Intelenet.