Blackstone has appointed Thomas Schleicher, former Chief Investment Officer of Kirkbi, as Senior Adviser for the Nordic region, reinforcing its regional expansion strategy as it prepares to deploy $500bn across Europe over the next decade, Bloomberg reports.

Schleicher previously oversaw approximately 178bn Danish kroner, or about $28bn, in assets at Kirkbi A/S, the investment vehicle of Denmark’s billionaire Kirk Kristiansen family, which controls Lego. Kirkbi partnered with Blackstone in 2019 on the £4.8bn ($6.5bn) take-private of Merlin Entertainments.

At Blackstone, Schleicher will support origination and deepen investor engagement across the Nordics, a region where the firm has built exposure across real estate, infrastructure, private equity, and growth.

Blackstone’s recent Nordic activity includes its 2023 €14bn ($16.6bn) acquisition of Adevinta alongside Permira and a large-scale data centre development in Forssa, Finland. The firm has also strengthened its European leadership bench with the appointments of Franck Petitgas as Vice Chairman for Europe and Michele Raba as Head of European Corporate Private Equity.

The hire signals continued competition among global alternative managers to secure local networks and institutional relationships as capital deployment across Europe accelerates.

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