MSN MoneyCentral – Bill Owens, the former chief executive of Nortel and former high-ranking US military official, has agreed to join AEA Holdings to lead the US private equity firm’s expansion intoChina and India.
The move, which will be announced this week, marks the latest example of high-level figures in business and government migrating to private equity. Last year, Michael Powell, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, joined Providence Equity Partners, while Michael Marks, former chief executive of Flextronics, was hired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.
The addition of Mr Owens comes more than a year after AEA was formed out of the merger of AEA Investors, one of the oldest and most exclusive buy-out shops on Wall Street, and Aetos Capital, a property investor and hedge fund-of-funds manager.
The combined group now has about $10bn under management, and serves as a small-scale model for the convergence of private equity and hedge funds.
Many larger private equity groups such as Blackstone and Texas Pacific have been moving into hedge funds, while hedge fund and distressed players such as Cerberus Capital Management have been aggressively pursuing private equity deals.
