LPs

Goldman Sachs veteran Winkelried to join TPG as co-CEO

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Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc co-president Jon Winkelried will join TPG Capital LP as co-chief executive, the latest example of a private equity firm seeking to grow and expand its operations through a high-profile hire, Reuters reported.

Winkelried, 56, will join TPG co-founder James Coulter, 55, who was already serving as the firm’s CEO, TPG said in a statement on Wednesday. TPG’s other co-founder, David Bonderman, 72, who is less involved with the day-to-day running of the firm, will remain chairman.

The move echoes Tony James’ appointment as Blackstone Group LP President in 2002. James, a former chairman of global investment banking and private equity at Credit Suisse First Boston, is now credited with helping Blackstone diversify significantly beyond private equity.

Winkelried retired from Goldman Sachs in 2009 following a 27-year career in a number of leadership roles that included co-head of its investment banking division, co-head of fixed income, currency and commodities, and head of leveraged finance. Since then he has served as a senior advisor to TPG’s credit business.

TPG has been reluctant thus far to follow peers such as Blackstone and Carlyle Group LP in becoming a publicly traded company, preferring to wait and diversify further before launching an initial public offering.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Winkelried said that TPG remained open to an IPO, but that this was not a “piece of the puzzle” as far as his appointment was concerned.

“When Jim called me and introduced the idea of potentially joining, I was immediately intrigued and excited. This was a process that we engaged in since June, and the more I explored it the more apparent it became what a great opportunity this is,” Winkelried said.

Several private equity firms have been seeking to attract major figures from the world of finance as they seek to institutionalize their business.

Last year, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner joined Warburg Pincus LLC, while former JPMorgan Chase & Co top executive Michael Cavanagh went to Carlyle, before leaving this year to join Comcast Corp as chief financial officer.

Based in San Francisco, California, and Fort Worth, Texas, TPG has about $75 billion in assets under management, spread across private equity, credit, real estate and growth equity.

(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York)