Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Hong Kong corporate partner Richard Blair has joined U.S. private equity giant The Blackstone Group as managing director and general counsel of the Asia-Pacific region.

At Freshfields, Blair specialised in corporate finance transactions, including public and private mergers and acquisitions. In 2017, he was part of the team that advised Blackstone on a $500 million sale of its majority stake in Trans Maldivian Airways Pvt., a seaplane operator in the Maldives, to a consortium that included Bain Capital.

Blair leaves Freshfields after more than 16 years with the Magic Circle firm, where he made partner in Hong Kong last year; he also practised at the firm's offices in Singapore and London.

In 2017, he was seconded to Blackstone as senior legal counsel, during which he advised the buyout firm on the take-privates of Singapore-listed warehouse operator Global Logistic Properties Ltd. for $11.6 billion; Singapore-listed real estate investment trust Croesus Retail Trust for $650 million; and Nasdaq-listed Chinese exhibition group Global Sources Ltd. for $517 million.

At Blackstone, Blair takes over from Susannah Lindenfield, a former Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton associate who has served as Asia-Pacific general counsel from Hong Kong since 2016. Lindenfield has relocated to be head of legal and compliance in Blackstone's London office.

Blackstone has turned to Freshfields on several recent deals, including, as part of a consortium, on an acquisition worth more than $2 billion for a stake in U.K. insurer Rothesay Life from Goldman Sachs in 2017. The Freshfields team was led by former London partner David Higgins, who left to join Kirkland & Ellis in April last year.

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