Chinese private equity keeps on rocking the world

Texas has long been synonymous with one of its most famous musical products ZZ Top, a Houston band that's been rocking the world since 1969.

Now there's a new ZZ in town private equity fund Zhongzhi Capital, better known as ZZ Capital, is planting its flag in the Lone Star State with the purchase of Alerian, a provider of market intelligence services and indices in the energy and master limited partnership MLP sector.

The deal, being handled by ZZ's Hong Kong-based platform ZZ Capital International, underlines a growing trend in Chinese outbound MA while corporate giants are reined in by regulators or financial difficulties, private...