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Warburg Pincus has named Jeffrey Perlman as its next president, replacing Timothy Geithner, the former US secretary of the Treasury, who joined the US private equity group a decade ago after leaving the administration of president Barack Obama.
The appointment comes as part of a broader succession plan that is expected to have the 40-year-old Perlman, who leads the firm’s south-east Asia operations, eventually become chief executive of the group, replacing current head, Chip Kaye.
Geithner, who was president of the Federal Reserve’s New York branch during the global financial crisis, has been an active part of Warburg Pincus’s investment operations and an important ambassador to its investors worldwide. He will become chair, a role seen as matching his work inside the firm.
“Now is the ideal time to put in place a plan for the next generation of leadership at the firm,” said Kaye, who will continue to lead Warburg Pincus, in a press release.
Perlman, a 17-year veteran of the firm and also head of its Asia-Pacific real estate business, is seen internally as a top-performing investor with a valuable global perspective after helping to lead successful ventures such as its ESR logistics real estate platform in Asia.
The appointment also comes as Warburg Pincus, which has $83bn in assets under management and is known for the global reach of its growth-oriented private equity investments, navigates a more volatile geopolitical landscape, particularly in China.
Kaye told the Financial Times last year that an era of geopolitical calm that had provided a tailwind to asset prices was beginning to reverse, complicating the investment outlook.
Perlman will relocate to New York, but his global experiences, which include opening the group’s Singapore office, make him “suited to help the firm navigate this more complicated investment landscape”, Geithner said in a statement.
Perlman’s work inside Warburg Pincus resembles the path Kaye took to become its leader in 2000.
Kaye established its investment presence in Asia in the mid-1990s, turning Warburg Pincus into one of the first private equity firms to build large investment capabilities in China and India. He returned to the US to be a part of the original succession plan from founder Lionel Pincus and veteran dealmaker John Vogelstein. He became co-head in 2000 alongside Joe Landy and then the firm’s sole leader in 2019 after Landy exited.
Geithner will remain a member of Warburg Pincus’s investment committee, where he has been seen as a neutral voice when the firm debates making new investments, according to sources briefed on the matter.
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