Chinese outward investment to continue: Blackstone

LONDON (Reuters) - Chinese outward investment is likely to continue, with a focus on industry and manufacturing until it develops a consumer economy, the head of Blackstone's (BX.N) advisory business said on Tuesday.

"Is (Chinese) international investment going to continue - in certain segments - yes," John Studzinski, global head of Blackstone's corporate and mergers and acquisitions advisory group said at the Reuters Hedge Funds and Private Equity Summit.

"But they are going to be related to the development of a manufacturing-led, industry-led expanding economy. The consumer economy is a next phase," he added.

Blackstone's work with the Chinese includes advising China Development Bank on its investment in Barclays Plc. China took a $3 billion stake in Blackstone last year.

There has been concern in some Western countries that China's $200 billion sovereign wealth fund might invest for political rather than business reasons.

Studzinski said that there had been a lot of misunderstanding about state investment vehicles and that confusing political issues with long-term economic investment was dangerous.

"This is what I call nationalist activism," he said. "Asian investors and governments are focusing on economic investments, they're not necessarily focusing on investments as a source of political influence."

He added that many of the countries diversifying state funds into foreign investments were partly seeking to reduce the gap between rich and poor in those countries and create more political stability.

"If people saw them as a source of political stability they might not be so bothered about them," he said.

(Reporting by Eleanor Wason; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)