General Atlantic Hires Former Carlyle Deal Maker Zhang

HONG KONG—Private-equity firm General Atlantic said it has hired a senior Carlyle Group LP deal maker to lead its China operations.

Eric Zhang was named a managing director and head of China at General Atlantic after a decade as part of the Carlyle China team. Mr. Zhang left Carlyle Group, where he was a managing director, in May, according to his LinkedIn profile. He serves on the boards of China's biggest online classified site 58.com Inc. and Chinese real estate portal SouFun Holdings Ltd. Both of those companies are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

China's technology sector has grown rapidly in recent years as Chinese consumers rapidly adopt smartphones and spend more money online. The success of e-commerce companies like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and their early investors has prompted more bets on the next generation of Chinese startups.

Those include ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing Technology Co., which competes with Uber Technologies Inc. The Chinese homegrown champion received a big vote of confidence last month when Apple Inc. invested $1 billion in Didi as part of a fundraising round that valued the Chinese startup at more than $25 billion.

In turn, Chinese deal makers like Mr. Zhang with experience in the technology sector have been in high demand. For example, U.S. investment fund Coatue Management LLC hired deal maker Tony Zhang from DCM Ventures to spearhead its entrance into private deals in China and put money into startups including Didi.

Started in 1980, General Atlantic has been a major investor focusing on growth companies, including startups, globally. Last year, it was one of the firms that led a $1.5 billion investment in home-rental service Airbnb Inc. that valued the company at $25.5 billion. Within China, General Atlantic made a name for itself by being part of a consortium that invested $350 million in Lenovo Group Ltd., helping to finance the Chinese computer maker's purchase of International Business Machines Corp.'s PC unit in 2005. Since it began making China investments in 2000, General Atlantic has put $1.5 billion into 17 companies.

General Atlantic is an investor in China's top online seller of movie tickets and restaurant bookings, Meituan-Dianping, which was valued at more than $18 billion in a January funding round.

Write to Rick Carew at rick.carew@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 05, 2016 20:55 ET (00:55 GMT)

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