Private equity firm The Blackstone Group has hired a specialist in financing and capital markets after closing a record $21.7bn (€15.7bn) fund and swiftly embarking on its next fundraising campaign.

Vikrant Sawhney has joined Blackstone as a managing director from Deutsche Bank. As a managing director of Deutsche Bank's financial sponsors group, he worked with Blackstone on a number of transactions including the buyouts of chemical company Celanese, educational publisher Houghton Mifflin and technology company SunGard Data Systems.