HONG KONG (Reuters) - BlackRock ( BLK ) has hired Yu Beihua, formerly head of AXA's China fund joint venture, as the new boss of its China business, two people with knowledge of the matter said, as the U.S. asset manager continues an overhaul of the unit to improve performance.

Both sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

BlackRock ( BLK ), the world's largest money manager, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Yu will replace Chen Jian, who has been interim general manager for the China business since the first general manager Chi Zhang left in February 2024.

Yu's appointment follows a revamp of BlackRock's ( BLK ) Chinese operations over the past four years, which saw some senior executives either leave or be replaced, according to the sources.

Recent departures included Hong Xia, deputy general manager overseeing sales and marketing, who resigned last month, and Lu Wenjie, the most senior investment executive at the China business, who left the Shanghai unit last June to join BlackRock's ( BLK ) Hong Kong operations.

BlackRock ( BLK ) manages $11.6 trillion of assets globally.

Assets under management at its Shanghai-based China fund unit nearly halved from the end of 2021 to 3.6 billion yuan ($496.82 million) as of last June, but then rebounded to 12.3 billion yuan by the end of December, company disclosures show, as Beijing's economic support measures helped the investment performance improve.

($1 = 7.2425 Chinese yuan renminbi)