UPDATE 1-Asia head of Blackstone's GSO rejoining JPMorgan

(Adds details, background, byline)

By Michael Flaherty

HONG KONG, July 13 (Reuters) - The Asia-Pacific head of Blackstone Group's (BX.N) credit hedge fund group is leaving to re-join JPMorgan (JPM.N), according to a source familiar with the matter, roughly six months after the group's Asia desk shut down.

Timothy Donahue, the former Asia-Pacific head of GSO Capital Partners, is taking a senior managing director role with JPMorgan in New York on its leveraged loan and high-yield capital markets team, the source said.

GSO Capital Partners LP, the hedge fund that Blackstone bought for nearly $930 million in cash and stock in March 2008, manages a credit hedge fund, mezzanine and senior debt funds, and collateralised loan obligation (CLO) vehicles. The fund had $10 billion under management at the time it was bought.

After opening its Asia desk in Hong Kong last September, GSO closed it in January, failing to find attractive investments in the region as markets plunged across the globe.

GSO's Asia team was Donahue, Managing Director Sanjeev Khemlani, Associate Angad Banga and Vice-President Abhimanyu Prakash.

Donahue, and his wife and family, moved with JPMorgan to Hong Kong about three years ago from New York. For the first two years he was JPMorgan's Asia-Pacific head of structured leveraged finance, before moving over to Blackstone.

The Massachusetts native and Fordham University graduate will re-join the team he left three years ago. (Reporting by Michael Flaherty; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Chris Lewis)