TPG's General Counsel Ronald Cami Is Leaving the Firm

By Ryan Dezember 

TPG's general counsel Ronald Cami is leaving the private-equity firm after five years as its top in-house lawyer.

Mr. Cami, 47 years old, has agreed to stay on at the firm while it searches for a replacement and to help with the transition.

"It's been an incredible opportunity to serve as the general counsel for TPG for last five years, and I am proud to have been part of such a great organization during this time when much has been accomplished," Mr. Cami said in an emailed statement. "I made the decision that I wanted to pursue new opportunities that I've been approached about and I am looking forward to new challenges."

Mr. Cami hasn't disclosed further detail about his plans.

His departure comes as TPG works to raise a new flagship buyout fund--its first since 2008 when it pooled $19.8 billion from investors--and as it ponders an initial public offering.

Some of TPG's rivals, including Blackstone Group LP, KKR & Co. and Carlyle Group LP, have gone public in recent years, giving them a permanent source of capital to help fund expansion into new business lines such as hedge funds and lending while also creating an avenue for their founders and other employees to cash out of the businesses.

TPG has told investors it is targeting $10 billion for the new fund, which could prove critical to any potential IPO plans. While significantly smaller than its last two buyout funds, collecting commitments for that amount would be a vote of confidence from investors such as public pensions, endowments and the ultrawealthy after TPG stumbled on some of its largest investments.

The firm used cash from its 2008 fund and a similarly sized fund launched in 2006 to make ill-fated bets on Seattle thrift Washington Mutual, Texas power provider Energy Future Holdings Corp. and the casino operator now known as Caesars Entertainment Corp.

Mr. Cami joined TPG in 2010, in the aftermath of the financial crisis that threw a wrench into some of the debt-laden buyouts undertaken by TPG and its rivals before the crash. Since then TPG has dialed down the size of companies it buys and also moved aggressively into investing through separate funds in growing companies, such as car-service app Uber Technologies Inc. and home-rental site Airbnb Inc.

Before TPG, Mr. Cami was a partner at New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, where he worked on mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and gave general boardroom advice to corporate clients. Among the clients he worked with at the law firm were investment firm D.E. Shaw & Co., pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and General Motors Co.

Write to Ryan Dezember at [e-mail]

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