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Private Equity Briefcase

By Kelly Holman, IDD Magazine

August 18, 2009

Pass The Chinese Please!

Pass the Chinese please.

We're not talking Cantonese or Sichuan cuisine here folks, but language. English, long the language of the global business community, has just taken a back seat. Perhaps it's time to learn Mandarin.

The Blackstone Group's recent news announcement about the launch of its new $732 million (5 billion Renminbi-denominated) private equity fund says it all. The entire first page of the New York-based private equity group's fund announcement was written in Chinese.

It would be easy to dismiss the firm's inclusion of Chinese in the release given that the buyout group is interested in communicating its interest in the country in lock step with the Chinese government. But, the use of Chinese speaks to just how important China has become as an investment haven, especially to one of the private equity industry's flagship investors.

Even so, some veteran PR practitioners expressed astonishment at the press tactic.

"Talk about burying your lead. I think it's a big miss in an age where everyone is dealing with information overload," said Peter Duckler, a senior consultant at Chicago public relations firm HLB Communications. "If we were back in the age when people mailed press releases it would certainly be creative, but not now."

One 25-year New York PR pro and former journalist, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, said: "You've got to be kidding me. Who were they looking to attract? It flies in the face of not only convention, but practicality."

One PR executive who represents a number of large private equity groups, however, disagreed. "Actually, I think it is pretty smart communicating in [China's] native tongue given the [country's]rise of domestic private equity funds."

A Blackstone official said rather than issue a separate press announcement for China and the U.S., the firm simply decided to reuse the version that it put out in mainland China.

Still, the use of Chinese has your correspondent wondering if he should start learning Chinese. Come to think of it, that's not a bad use of extracurricular time this fall.

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1 Comments

This is to "pass the chinese" - perhaps people here in the West should remember those are the decendents of the 'long march' and here in the States, we're the 4th Reich. it's not a prudent mix and I've been saying this since opposing PNTR with the PRC. But tell people they can't do business with people who have contempt for everyone but family and old friends, and people think you've got 2 heads

Posted by: Andrea P | September 16, 2009 6:47 AM

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Kelly Holman

Kelly Holman is the assistant managing editor at Investment Dealers' Digest, where he writes about private equity and leveraged finance. Prior to joining IDD, he reported on leveraged buyout transactions, private equity fundraising activity, corporate auctions, the middle market and credit markets as a senior writer for The Deal. Before joining The Deal in 2000, Holman was a reporter for PRWeek magazine, where he reported on financial services PR and investor relation activities, as well as international PR developments. He also assisted with Haymarket Media Group's US launch of the public relations trade magazine. Previous to PRWeek, Holman wrote about private equity for Private Equity Week and Buyouts and served as a contributor to IDD in the late 1990's. A Colorado transplant, Holman has called New York home for more than a decade. He received his B.A. in Mass Communications from the University of Colorado at Denver..

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