Blackstone has confirmed to PEI Group that Joseph Baratta, the global head of Blackstone Private Equity Strategies and a member of Blackstone’s board of directors, is retiring at year end after nearly 30 years at the firm.

“We do not intend to replace his role, given this was long telegraphed and we intentionally put in place a structure with other leaders running all the PE strategies and funds,” a firm representative told PEI.

Baratta joined Blackstone in 1998. In 2001 he moved to London to help establish Blackstone’s corporate private equity business in Europe. Since 2012, Baratta has served as the firm’s global head of private equity and is based in New York. Prior to Blackstone, Baratta worked at Tinicum Incorporated and Mc Cown De Leeuw & Company. He also worked at Morgan Stanley in its M&A department.