Mr. Shangkong | Storytellers pile into private equity as industry mushrooms
Over the past few years, the mainland's private equity sector has grown at a breakneck speed, attracting bankers and those who can sell a vision
What skills and experience does a person need to become a private equity professional?
Compared with traditional financial businesses such as banking and insurance, private equity has a very brief history in China. However, many financial professionals feel the private equity industry on the mainland has already become very crowded within just a few years.
The past week was a significant one for Chinese politics - with the once-in-a-decade unveiling of a new leadership - and for Asia's private equity industry as well.
Top bosses from big firms such as KKR and Blackstone were in Hong Kong for the AVCJ Forum, one of the most important annual meetings for major global private equity players which want to expand their business in Asia.
I began to cover the private equity industry for my previous employer, a British news agency, in 2008 when the business was not as influential and crowded as it is these days. I remember when I tried to explain to some of my friends my job as a reporter on private equity - more often known as PE in the industry - in the region, and some of them were bemused and even amused. "PE? Physical exercise?" one of them joked.
How time flies. Just four years later, PE now simply means money to most people, and the media loves to write about PE people. Many of them are considered rising stars and new powers in the country's financial community.