The Blackstone Group has continued to take advantage of the investment banking talent available in the market with the hire of Citigroup’s deputy head of investment banking for its Paris office, which opened last month.

The hiring of Jean-Manuel Richier as senior managing director to drive the expansion of the advisory business in France was not "about checking boxes," but about finding the right cultural fit, John Studzinski, the global head of Blackstone's corporate advisory group, told Financial News.