Blackstone's Rainmaker

When China's proposed bid to buy an American oil company in June of last year backfired on baseless grounds that the deal posed security concerns to the U.S., it became pretty clear that public perception of China was sensitive at least. The U.S.'s trade deficit with China, which has expanded from 6 billion annually in the late 1980s to over 200 billion annually in recent years, is not helping China's public relations campaign either. Public opinion data show a majority (60 percent) believe China is an "unfair trading partner" and that imports from China represent a "serious threat" to U.S. jobs. Oh, and China's military rise is also viewed as suspicious at best; as is China's role in Darfur.

This is what makes Blackstone's Antony Lueng a rainmaker. Lueng has 28 years of investment banking experience and served as the minister of finance in Hong Kong before taking over Blackstone's greater China portfolio. Earlier this month, Lueng helped secure $3 billion for Blackstone's coming public offering, and importantly, he did this without attracting a great deal of attention or fear mongering from the U.S. congress or media.

With the Chinese government holding a big steak, Lueng and the others in Blackstone will be treading carefully - aka, maybe no investing in firms that design state of the art weapons.