Permira, the UK-based private equity group, will today underline China's rising importance for western buy-out groups by appointing Henry Chen, a senior Chinese investment banker at Goldman Sachs, to run its new Hong Kong office.

The appointment of Mr Chen, a nine-year veteran of Goldman in China, comes as a growing number of US and European private equity groups are expanding in Asia, seen by many as the new El Dorado for the buy-out industry.