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[Financial Times: Via MSNBC] Texas Pacific Group is toning up its presence in Asia, one of the highly sought after markets by PE frims. TPG, a leading global private equity group, is not going to rely just on its Asian affiliate Newbridge Capital, it would also be directly investing in Asia. This is different from its earlier strategy of leaving Asian investments to Newbridge alone.

Asia has become the hottest destination for global private equity firms, and leaving the entire continent to its Asian affiliate alone may not be a sound strategy. Global funds such as Blackstone and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts have recently entered the Asian market, while rivals such as Carlyle Group and CVC Asia Pacific have raised new funds to invest in Asia.

Newbridge, a joint venture with Blum Capital Partners, is too small to compete with global rivals for increasingly large deals. Also TPG wanted to deploy significantly more capital in Asia by using its new $10-$12 billion buy-out fund to work on deals alongside Newbridge. Although Newbridge is expected to have first call on all TPG's Asian deals, TPG's latest buy-out fund may invest in certain deals, and combine resources to undertake bigger transactions, says the report.