Blackstone CEO temporarily moving to Europe-source

* Blackstone has 17 offices around world

* Schwarzman spent more than half this year outside U.S.

By Megan Davies

NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Blackstone Group's (BX.N) chief executive Stephen Schwarzman will temporarily move to Europe for a few months, as the private equity firm grows increasingly global, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Schwarzman has spent more than half this year overseas, and the move is to help him manage the travel demands of running a company which has offices and investments around the world, while bridging Asian and U.S. time zones the source said.

He will likely move in January, the source added.

Blackstone, one of the world's biggest private equity firms, has 17 offices around the world in locations such as Shanghai, Mumbai, London, Paris and Dusseldorf .

The company recently raised a $15 billion private equity fund, a significant part of which will likely be invested in Asia. It is also raising a yuan-denominated fund for China.

In addition, a significant number of the investors in Blackstone's funds are based overseas.

The precise location of where Schwarzman will live was not disclosed by the source who spoke to Reuters. Schwarzman has various properties in the United States and has a summer home in the South of France, but is not expected to use that as his European office, the source said.

Blackstone declined to comment.