HONG KONG, April 25 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley

Private Equity Asia (PEA) is reorganising its teams in the

region as its current chief executive of Asia Chin Chou is

retiring, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.

Morgan Stanley ( MS ) will carve out a China-focused team from the

rest of the region that focuses on investments in onshore and

offshore China, according to the memo.

The firm has appointed Jun Xu, who is currently head of its

yuan-denominated investment funds, to lead all private equity

investing in China, the memo said.

Xu joined Morgan Stanley ( MS ) in 2005 and has led the

expansion of the yuan-denominated private equity business in

China since joining Private Equity Asia in 2008.

Nirav Mehta and Arjun Saigal, currently co-heads of

India PE, will take the role of co-heads of PEA ex-China, which

will still invest across the region with India as its core

focus, Morgan Stanley ( MS ) said in the memo.

A spokesperson for the firm confirmed the content of the

memo.

Chou will be retiring after a 35-year career with the Wall

Street bank's private equity arm, with stints in its New York

office in the late 1980s before coming to Asia in the 1990s to

establish the business.

He served on the firm's Asia-Pacific Executive Committee

and is a key leader in its five regional private equity funds in

addition to overseeing the creation of the China yuan and Thai

Funds.

Andrew Hawkyard will also retire after 24 years with the

PE Asia unit, most recently serving as the unit's chief

investment officer, the memo said.

Morgan Stanley PEA has raised five private equity funds

for the region since 1999, totalling more than $4 billion,

public disclosures show.

The fourth Asia fund closed in 2014 at $1.7 billion, the

largest fund PEA has raised to date, according to the bank's

disclosures.

In 2018, the firm also raised over $440 million for a

Thailand-focused fund in partnership with Bangkok Bank in 2018,

it said then.

The Asia private equity team invests primarily in highly

structured minority investments and buyouts for controlling

stakes in growth-oriented companies, Morgan Stanley's ( MS ) website

said.