 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Private equity |
| Founded | 1987; 39 years ago (1987) |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue,, U.S. |
Key people |
|
| Products | |
| Revenue |  US$5.43 billion (2024) |
| US$2.18 billion (2024) | |
| US$1.02 billion (2024) | |
| AUM | US$441 billion (2024) |
| Total assets | US$23.1 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | US$6.35 billion (2024) |
Number of employees | c. 2,300 (2024) |
| Website | carlyle |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations inprivate equity, alternativeasset management andfinancial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management.[2]
Carlyle specializes inprivate equity,real assets, andprivate credit. One of the world's largest investment firms, it ranked first among private equity firms by capital raised from 2010-2015, according to thePEI 300 index.[3] In June 2024, it ranked sixth inPrivate Equity International's PEI 300 ranking among the world's largest private equity firms.[4]
Founded in 1987 inWashington, D.C., the company has nearly 2,200 employees in 28 offices on four continents as of December 2023[update]. On May 3, 2012, Carlyle completed aUS$700 millioninitial public offering and began trading on theNASDAQ stock exchange.
| History of private equity and venture capital |
|---|
| Early history |
| (origins of modernprivate equity) |
| The 1980s |
| (leveraged buyout boom) |
| The 1990s |
| (leveraged buyout and the venture capital bubble) |
| The 2000s |
| (dot-com bubble to thecredit crunch) |
| The 2010s |
| (expansion) |
| The 2020s |
| (COVID-19 recession) |
Carlyle was founded in 1987 as aboutique investment bank by five partners with backgrounds in finance and government:William E. Conway Jr.,Stephen L. Norris,David Rubenstein,Daniel A. D'Aniello andGreg Rosenbaum.[5] The founding partners named the firm after theCarlyle Hotel inNew York City (named forThomas Carlyle)[6] where Norris and Rubenstein had planned the new investment business.[7] Rubenstein, aWashington-based lawyer, had worked in theCarter Administration.[8] Norris and D'Aneillo had worked together atMarriott Corporation;[9] Conway was a finance executive atMCI Communications. Rosenbaum left in the first year[10] and Norris departed in 1995.[7][11] Rubenstein, Conway and D'Aneillo remain active in the business. Carlyle was founded with $5 million of financial backing fromT. Rowe Price,Alex. Brown & Sons, First Interstate Equities, and theRichard King Mellon family.[12][13]
In the late 1980s, Carlyle raised capital deal-by-deal to pursueleveraged buyout investments, including a failed takeover battle forChi-Chi's.[10][13] The firm raised its first dedicated buyout fund with $100 million of investor commitments in 1990. In its early years, Carlyle also advised in transactions including, in 1991, a $500 million investment in Citigroup byPrince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a member of theSaudi royal family.[13]
Carlyle developed a reputation for acquiring businesses related to the defense industry. In 1992, Carlyle completed the acquisition of the Electronics division of General Dynamics Corporation, renamed GDE Systems, a producer of military electronics systems.[14] Carlyle would sell the business toTracor in October 1994.[15] Carlyle acquiredMagnavox Electronic Systems, the military communications and electronic-warfare systems segment of Magnavox, fromPhilips Electronics in 1993.[16] Carlyle sold Magnavox for about $370 million toHughes Aircraft Company in 1995. Carlyle also invested inVought Aircraft through a partnership withNorthrop Grumman.[17] Carlyle's most notable defense industry investment came in October 1997 with its acquisition ofUnited Defense Industries. The $850 million acquisition of United Defense represented Carlyle's largest investment to that point.[18][19] Carlyle completed an IPO of United Defense on theNew York Stock Exchange in December 2001, then sold the rest of the stock in April 2004.[20] In more recent years, Carlyle has invested less in the defense industry.[21]
Carlyle's 2001 investor conference took place on September 11, 2001. In the weeks following the meeting, it was reported thatShafiq bin Laden, a member of theBin Laden family, had been the "guest of honor", and that they were investors in Carlyle-managed funds.[22][23][24][25][26] Later reports confirmed that the Bin Laden family had invested $2 million into Carlyle's $1.3 billion Carlyle Partners II Fund in 1995, making the family relatively small investors with the firm. However, their overall investment might have been considerably larger, with the $2 million committed in 1995 only being an initial contribution that grew over time.[27] These connections would later be profiled inMichael Moore'sFahrenheit 9/11. The Bin Laden family liquidated its holdings in Carlyle's funds in October 2001, just after the September 11 attacks, when the connection of their family name to the Carlyle Group's name became impolitic.[28]
Buyouts declined after the collapse of thedot-com bubble in 2000 and 2001. But after the two-stage buyout ofDex Media at the end of 2002 and 2003, large multibillion-dollar U.S. buyouts could once again obtain high-yield debt financing and larger transactions could be completed. Carlyle, together withWelsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, led a $7.5 billion buyout of QwestDex,[29] the third-largest corporate buyout since 1989.[30] QwestDex's purchase occurred in two stages: a $2.75 billion acquisition of assets known as Dex Media East in November 2002 and a $4.30 billion acquisition of assets known as Dex Media West in 2003.[31]R. H. Donnelley Corporation acquired Dex Media in 2006.[32]
Lou Gerstner, former chairman and CEO ofIBM andNabisco, replacedFrank Carlucci as chairman of Carlyle in January 2003.[33][34][35] Gerstner would serve in that position through October 2008.[36][37] The hiring of Gerstner was intended to reduce the perception of Carlyle as a politically dominated firm.[38] At the time, Carlyle, which had been founded 15 years earlier, had accumulated $13.9 billion of assets under management and had generated annualized returns for investors of 36%.[35]
Carlyle also announced the $1.6 billion acquisition ofHawaiian Telcom fromVerizon in May 2004.[39] Carlyle's investment was immediately challenged when Hawaii regulators delayed the closing of the buyout. The company also suffered billing and customer-service issues as it had to recreate its back-office systems. Hawaiian Telcom ultimately filed for bankruptcy in December 2008, costing Carlyle the $425 million it had invested in the company.[40]
As the activity of the large private equity firms increased in the mid-2000s, Carlyle kept pace with such competitors asKKR,Blackstone Group, andTPG Capital. In 2005, Carlyle, together withClayton, Dubilier & Rice andMerrill Lynch completed the $15.0 billion leveraged buyout ofThe Hertz Corporation, the largest car rental agency fromFord.[41][42]
The following year, in August 2006, Carlyle and itsRiverstone Holdings affiliate partnered withGoldman Sachs Alternatives in the $27.5 billion (including assumed debt) acquisition ofKinder Morgan, one of the largest pipeline operators in the US.[43] The buyout was backed byRichard Kinder, the company's co-founder and a former president ofEnron.[44]
In September 2006, Carlyle led a consortium, comprisingBlackstone Group,Permira andTPG Capital, in the $17.6 billion takeover ofFreescale Semiconductor. At the time of its announcement, Freescale would be the largest leveraged buyout of a technology company ever, surpassing the 2005 buyout ofSunGard. The buyers were forced to pay an extra $800 million because KKR made a last-minute bid as the original deal was about to be signed. Shortly after the deal closed in late 2006, cell phone sales at Motorola Corp., Freescale's former corporate parent and a major customer, began dropping sharply. In addition, in the recession of 2008–2009, Freescale's chip sales to automakers fell off, and the company came under great financial strain.[45][46]
Earlier that year, in January 2006, Carlyle together withBlackstone Group,AlpInvest Partners,Hellman & Friedman,KKR andThomas H. Lee Partners acquiredNielsen Company, the global information and media company formerly known as VNU in an $8.9 billion buyout.[47][48][49] Also in 2006, Carlyle acquiredOriental Trading Company which ultimately declared bankruptcy in August 2010[50] as well as Forba Dental Management, the owner ofSmall Smiles Dental Centers, the largest US chain of dental clinics for children.[51]
In 2011, Carlyle acquiredAlpInvest Partners in a joint venture with the firm's management, entering into a new line of business managing fund of funds, secondary investments and co-investments. In 2013, Carlyle acquired the remaining ownership stake in AlpInvest after which that business became a wholly owned subsidiary.[52]
In October 2017, the Carlyle Group announced that its founders would remain executive chairmen on the board of directors but step down as the day-to-day leaders of the firm; they namedGlenn Youngkin andKewsong Lee to succeed them, as co-CEOs, effective January 1, 2018.[53][54][55]
In October 2017, the Carlyle Group made a $500 million investment in the brandSupreme valuing the company at $1 billion. In 2020, the investment was acquired byVF Corporation, which ownsThe North Face,Timberland, andVans for $2.1 billion.[56][57]
On October 14, 2019, the Carlyle Group and private equity firm Stellex Capital Management announced it had completed the acquisition and merger of shipbuilderVigor Industrial LLC, Portland, Ore., and MHI Holdings LLC, a ship repair and maintenance company based in Norfolk, Va. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.[58]
In October 2019, the Carlyle Group announced an agreement to acquireHilb Group, a Richmond, Virginia–based insurance brokerage, from ABRY Partners.[59]
On June 2, 2020, the Carlyle Group and T&D Holdings reported that they had concluded their purchase of a 76.6% stake in Fortitude Group Holdings, the latter of which comprises Fortitude Re, and American International Company Inc.[60] Also in June 2020, Unison had been purchased by the Carlyle Group and Unison management strategic investment company.[61]
In September 2020, the Carlyle Group acquired a majority stake in Minneapolis-based sanitizing machine maker Victory Innovations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.[62]
At the end of September 2020, Youngkin retired from the firm, stating his intention to focus on community and public service; this left Lee as the sole CEO.[63][64][65] Youngkin would later go on to be electedGovernor of Virginia in the state's2021 gubernatorial election.
In January 2021, the Carlyle Group acquired a majority stake inJagex, a Britishvideo game development studio known for themassively multiplayer online gameRuneScape.[66][67]
In May 2021, the Carlyle Group entered a partnership agreement withSPX Capital to enter the Brazilian market. The Carlyle Group's employees would join SPX Capital to establish itsprivate equity strategy. SPX Capital would also become a subadvisor to the Carlyle Group's $776 million buyout fund focused on South America.[68]
In March 2022, the Carlyle Group acquiredDainese - an Italian motorcycle kit and clothing company fromInvestcorp.[69] Following this in May 2022, the Carlyle Group announced the acquisition deal of US government contractor for cyber security and IT defence,ManTech International. The deal, worth $3.9 billion, will include the firm to buyout shares at $96 a share, representing a 32% premium to ManTech's closing price on February 2, 2022. The acquisition aimed to increase the firms steady stream of recurring revenue.[70]
In August 2022, the Carlyle Group acquiredAbingworth, a transatlantic bioscience investment firm.[71] In November, it was announced the Carlyle Group has acquired the international marketing agency, Incubeta.[72]
In February 2023,Harvey Schwartz was appointed CEO of the group, replacing Kewsong Lee, who left the position abruptly the previous summer following a power struggle with the co-founders.[73]
In 2023, Carlyle invested in Anthesis Group, a provider of sustainability services for businesses.[74] In September, it was announced Carlyle initiated a tender offer to acquire theTokyo-headquartered paper and ink chemicals manufacturer, Seiko PMC from itsparent companyDIC Corporation for $221 million.[75]
In June 2024, Carlyle announced the formation of a new Mediterranean-focused oil and gas company, led by formerBP CEOTony Hayward, after acquiringEnergean's assets in Egypt, Italy, and Croatia for up to $945 million.[76] In October, Carlyle Group (TCG) strengthened its partnership with Korea Investment & Securities to discover attractive global products on the one-year anniversary of its strategic alliance.[77]
In February 2025, TCG entered India's auto components market by acquiring a controlling stake in an entity formed through the merger of Indian auto parts companies Highway Industries and Roop Automotives.[78] In the same month, Carlyle announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Bluebird Bio to be acquired by a fund managed by SK Capital Partners.[79]
In November 2025, it was announced Carlyle had acquired theLiverpool, UK-headquartered multi-brand online retailer and financial services provider,The Very Group for an undisclosed amount.[80]
For the first 25 years of its existence, Carlyle operated as a private partnership controlled by its investment partners. In 2001, theCalifornia Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), which had been an investor in Carlyle managed funds since 1996, acquired a 5.5% holding in Carlyle's management company for $175 million.[81] The investment was valued at about $1 billion by 2007 at the height of the 2000s buyout boom.[82]
In September 2007,Mubadala Development Company, an investment vehicle for the government ofAbu Dhabi of theUnited Arab Emirates, purchased a 7.5% stake for $1.35 billion.[82][83]
In February 2008, California legislators targeted Carlyle and Mubadala, proposing a bill that would have barred CalPERS from investing money "with private-equity firms that are partly owned by countries with poor records on human rights." The bill, which was intended to draw attention to the connection between Carlyle and Mubadala Development, was later withdrawn.[84]
In May 2012, Carlyle completed an initial public offering of the company, listing under the symbol CG on theNASDAQ. The firm, which at the time managed about $147 billion of assets, raised $671 million in the offering. Following the IPO, Carlyle's three remaining founding partners, Rubenstein, D'Aniello and Conway retained the position as the company's largest shareholders.[85]
In June 2017, Carlyle took its non-traded BDC, TCG BDC, Inc., public in the first business development company IPO since 2014.[86][87]
The Carlyle Group has been a majority shareholder ofSeidor since August 2024.[88]
The key trends for Carlyle are (as of the financial year ending December 31):
| Year | Revenue in million USD | Net income in million USD | AUM in billion USD | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015[89] | 3,006 | (18) | 183 | 1,700 |
| 2016[90] | 2,274 | 6 | 158 | 1,600 |
| 2017[91] | 3,676 | 238 | 195 | 1,600 |
| 2018[92] | 2,427 | 93 | 216 | 1,650 |
| 2019[93] | 3,377 | 345 | 224 | 1,775 |
| 2020[94] | 2,935 | 348 | 246 | 1,825 |
| 2021[95] | 8,782 | 2,975 | 301 | 1,850 |
| 2022[96] | 4,439 | 1,225 | 373 | 2,100 |
| 2023[97] | 2,964 | (608) | 426 | 2,200 |
| 2024[98] | 5,426 | 1,020 | 441 | 2,300 |
Carlyle is mainly owned by institutional investors, who hold around 63% of all shares. The 10 largest shareholders in early 2025 were:[99]
Carlyle's key board of directors as of May 2025 consists of:[101]
The firm is organized into three business segments:
Carlyle's Corporate Private Equity division manages a series ofleveraged buyout andgrowth capital investment funds with specific geographic or industry focuses. Carlyle invests primarily in the following industries:aerospace,defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services,health care, industrial,real estate,technology and business services,telecommunications &media, andtransportation.
Carlyle's Corporate Private Equity segment advises 23 buyout and 10 growth capital funds, with $75 billion in Assets Under Management ("AUM") as of March 31, 2018.[102]
Carlyle's Real Assets segment advises 11 U.S. and internationally focused real estate funds, two infrastructure funds, two power funds, an international energy fund, and four Legacy Energy funds (funds that Carlyle jointly advises with Riverstone). The segment also includes nine funds advised by NGP. The Real Assets segment had about $44 billion in AUM as of March 31, 2018.[102]
Carlyle's Global Credit pursues investment opportunities across various segments ofprivate credit managing $194 billion in AUM as of December 31, 2024.[102] Global Credit's key areas of focus are:
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999; 27 years ago (1999) |
| Founder | Daniel A. D'Aniello David Rubenstein William E. Conway Jr.  |
| Headquarters | New York, New York Amsterdam, Netherlands London Hong Kong Indianapolis, Indiana Tokyo |
| Products | Fund investments,Secondaries,Co-Investments,Alternative Credit |
| 1,572,500,000 United States dollar (2022) | |
| 1,225,000,000 United States dollar (2022) | |
| Total assets | $85 billion (Dec 2024)[103]350 private equity managers (Dec 2024)[104]800+ private equity funds (Dec 2024)[104] |
Number of employees | 260 (2024)[105] |
| Footnotes / references US$100+ billion in capital since inception[106] | |
Carlyle's Investment Solutions segment advises global private equity through its subsidiary,AlpInvest Partners.
AlpInvest Partners is a globalprivate equityasset manager with over $85 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2024. The firm invests on behalf of more than 500institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.
AlpInvest operates through three core investment teams:
AlpInvest's investments span a broad spectrum of private market strategies including:large buyout,middle-market buyout,private credit,venture capital,growth capital,mezzanine,distressed andenergy investments, includingsustainable energy investments.
As of the end of 2024, the firm had invested in more than 800private equity funds managed by more than 350private equity firms. According to the PEI 300, AlpInvest ranked among the 50 largest private equity firms globally.[107]
Since 2011, AlpInvest has operated as a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm. Prior to 2011, AlpInvest has been owned through a joint venture of its two clients, the Dutch pension funds (ABP andPFZW).
Founded in 1999, AlpInvest has offices inNew York,Amsterdam,London,Hong Kong,Indianapolis,Singapore andTokyo with over 100 investment professionals and over 260 employees.
Carlyle had previously acquired a real estate fund of funds group, Metropolitan Real Estate, to provide investors with access to multi-manager real estate funds and strategies with more than 85 fund managers in the United States,Europe,Asia andLatin America. Metropolitan was sold in 2021 toBentallGreenOak.
Carlyle has been actively expanding its investment activities and assets under management through a series of acquisitions and joint-ventures.[108]
In March 2008, Carlyle Capital Corporation – established in August 2006[109] for the purpose of making investments in U.S.mortgage-backed securities – defaulted on about $16.6 billion of debt as the global credit crunch brought about by thesubprime mortgage crisis worsened for leveraged investors. TheGuernsey-based affiliate of Carlyle was very heavily leveraged, up to 32 times by some accounts, and it expected its creditors to seize its remaining assets.[110] Tremors in the mortgage markets induced several of Carlyle's 13 lenders to makemargin calls or to declare Carlyle in default on its loans.[111] In response to the forced liquidation of mortgage-backed assets caused by the Carlyle margin calls and other similar developments in credit markets, on March 11, 2008, theFederal Reserve gave Wall Street'sprimary dealers the right to post mortgaged-back securities as collateral for loans of up to $200 billion in higher-grade, U.S. government-backed securities.[112]
On March 12, 2008,BBC News Online reported that "instead of underpinning the mortgage-backed securities market, it seems to have had the opposite effect, giving lenders an opportunity to dump the risky asset" and that Carlyle Capital Corp. "will collapse if, as expected, its lenders seize its remaining assets."[113] On March 16, 2008, Carlyle Capital announced that its Class A Shareholders had voted unanimously in favor of the Corporation filing a petition under Part XVI, Sec. 96, of the Companies Law (1994) of Guernsey[114] for a "compulsory winding up proceeding" to permit all its remaining assets to be liquidated by a court-appointed liquidator.[115]
The losses to the Carlyle Group due to the collapse of Carlyle Capital are reported to be "minimal from a financial standpoint".[116]
In September 2017, the court ruled that Carlyle had no liability in the lawsuit.[117]
Carlyle has been profiled inMichael Moore'sFahrenheit 9/11 andWilliam Karel'sThe World According to Bush.
InFahrenheit 9/11, Moore makes nine allegations concerning the Carlyle Group.[118] Moore focused on Carlyle's connections withGeorge H. W. Bush and his Secretary of StateJames Baker, both of whom had at times served as advisers to the firm. The movie quotes authorDan Briody, who claimed that the Carlyle Group "gained" from theSeptember 11 attacks because it owned military contractorUnited Defense.[21] A Carlyle spokesman noted in 2003 that its 7% interest in defense industries was far less than several otherprivate equity firms.[119]
InThe World According to Bush,William Karel interviewedFrank Carlucci to discuss the presence ofShafiq bin Laden,Osama bin Laden's estranged brother, at Carlyle's annual investor conference while the September 11 attacks were occurring.[23][24][25]
The extremely influential Carlyle Group has arranged similar gatherings during the previous fourteen years, beneath the radar of most of the mass media, between former politicians like Bush, James Baker, John Major, former World Bank treasurer Afsaneh Masheyekhi, and interested parties looking for some extremely expensive, high-powered lobbying services. On September 11, 2001, the Group happened to be hosting a conference at a Washington hotel. Among the guest of honor: investor Shafiq bin Laden, another brother to Osama.
On the day Osama bin Laden's men attacked America, Shafiq bin Laden, described as an estranged brother of the terrorist, was at an investment conference in Washington, DC, along with two people who are close to President George Bush: his father, the first President Bush, and James Baker, the former secretary of state who masterminded the legal campaign that secured Dubya's move to the White House.
On 11 September, while Al-Qaeda's planes slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Carlyle Group hosted a conference at a Washington hotel. Among the guests of honour was a valued investor: Shafiq bin Laden, brother to Osama.
There is nothing wrong, therefore, in socializing and doing business with family members of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, including the late Salem bin Laden and Shafiq bin Laden of the Carlyle Group.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
