TPG's Bonderman says doesn't favour public float

DUBAI, Dec 11 (Reuters) - TPG Capital [TPG.UL] will be at the tail end of the pack, should all the major private equity firms be public entities in five years, the firm's founding partner David Bonderman said on Tuesday.

"Being public is not my favourite thing, Bonderman said.

"Who remembers Brown Brothers Harriman?" Bonderman asked, however, referring to the Wall Street bank that stayed private but lost share to a wave of banks that went public. He was speaking at the Super Return private equity conference here.

Asked whether he was interested in a sovereign wealth fund taking a stake in his firm's general partnership, as Blackstone Group (BX.N) and Carlyle Group have done, Bonderman said:

"My personal view on that is that it's not so much about sovereign wealth funds, but whether you want to be public," he said. Bonderman called the fact that Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman was taking the firm public while taking the firm's companies private a "delicious irony."

There was much speculation on whether TPG would follow other firms in a pursuit of going public.

TPG, which has invested in such companies as Burger King and computer company Lenovo, is currently investing a $15 billion fund.

"Assuming stocks aren't going through the floor, five years from now all major private equity firms will be public. For us, we'd love to be at the tail end of the pack but we'll just have to wait and see," he said. (Reporting by Michael Flaherty; Editing by Quentin Bryar)