private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of all value for which a group or entity is responsible. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as complex process or manufacturing plants, infrastr ...

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

real assets Real assets is an investment asset class that covers investments in physical assets such as real estate, energy, and infrastructure. Real assets have an inherent physical worth. Real assets differ from financial assets in that financial assets ge ...

private credit Private credit is an asset defined by non-bank lending where the debt is not issued or traded on the public markets. "Private credit" can also be referred to as " direct lending" or " private lending". It is a subset of "alternative credit". E ...

PEI 300 Below is a list of notable private equity firms. Largest private equity firms by PE capital raised Each year Private Equity International publishes the PEI 300, a ranking of the largest private-equity firms by how much capital they have raised for ...

Private Equity International ''Private Equity International'' (PEI) is a global insight, analysis and data provider for the private equity industry, with a core focus on the relationship between investors and fund managers: the LP- GP nexus. Launched in December 2001, the t ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

boutique investment bank A boutique investment bank is an investment bank that specializes in at least one aspect of investment banking, generally corporate finance, although some banks' strengths are retail in nature, such as Charles Schwab. Of those involved in corpor ...

David Rubenstein David Mark Rubenstein (born August 11, 1949) is an American lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist. A former government official, he is a co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group,Daniel A. D'Aniello and Greg Rosenbaum. The founding partners named the firm after the Carlyle Hotel in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

(named for

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

) where Norris and Rubenstein had planned the new investment business. Rubenstein, a

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

-based lawyer, had worked in the

Carter Administration Jimmy Carter's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 39th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Jimmy Carter, his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. Carter, a Democratic Party ...

. Norris and D'Aneillo had worked together at

Marriott Corporation The Marriott Corporation was a Hospitality industry, hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993. It was founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, it opened its first hotel in Arlington Count ...

; Conway was a finance executive at

MCI Communications MCI Communications Corporation (originally Microwave Communications, Inc.) was an American telecommunications company headquartered in Washington, D.C. that was at one point the second-largest long-distance provider in the United States. ...

. Rosenbaum left in the first year and Norris departed in 1995. Rubenstein, Conway and D'Aneillo remain active in the business. Carlyle was founded with $5 million of financial backing from T. Rowe Price, Alex. Brown & Sons, First Interstate Equities, and the Richard King Mellon family. In the late 1980s, Carlyle raised capital deal-by-deal to pursue

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

investments, including a failed takeover battle for

Chi-Chi's Chi-Chi's is a Belgian Chain store, restaurant chain and a Mexican-styled grocery items owned by MegaMex Foods. The son of one of the original co-founders recently revived the brand by preparing to open two restaurants in Minnesota. The name ...

. 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 by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a member of the

Saudi royal family The House of Saud ( ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi State, (1727–1818), and his brothers, though the ruling fa ...

. 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. Carlyle would sell the business to

Tracor Tracor, Inc. was a major North American defense electronics contractor which was acquired by Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), a subsidiary of General Electric Company plc, in 1998. Following the purchase of MES by British Aerospace in November ...

in October 1994. Carlyle acquired Magnavox Electronic Systems, the military communications and electronic-warfare systems segment of Magnavox, from

Philips Electronics Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

in 1993. Carlyle sold Magnavox for about $370 million to

Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes H-4 Hercules air ...

in 1995. Carlyle also invested in

Vought Aircraft Vought was the name of several related American aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought-Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace (part of Ling-Temco-Vought), Vought Aircraft Companies, and Vought ...

through a partnership with

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

. Carlyle's most notable defense industry investment came in October 1997 with its acquisition of

United Defense Industries United Defense Industries (UDI) was an American defense contractor which became part of BAE Systems Land & Armaments after being acquired by BAE Systems in 2005. The company produced combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and ...

. The $850 million acquisition of United Defense represented Carlyle's largest investment to that point. Carlyle completed an IPO of United Defense on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

in December 2001, then sold the rest of the stock in April 2004. In more recent years, Carlyle has invested less in the defense industry.

Carlyle in the early 2000s

Carlyle's 2001 investor conference took place on September 11, 2001. In the weeks following the meeting, it was reported that Shafiq bin Laden, a member of the

Bin Laden family The bin Laden family (), also spelled bin Ladin, is a wealthy Hadharem, Hadhrami family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the House of Saud, Saudi royal family. It is the namesake and controlling shareholder of the Saudi Binladi ...

, had been the "guest of honor", and that they were investors in Carlyle-managed funds. 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. These connections would later be profiled in

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

's ''

Fahrenheit 9/11 ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed, written by, and starring Michael Moore. The subjects of the film are the presidency of George W. Bush, the Iraq War, and the media's coverage of the war. In the film, Moore state ...

''. 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. Buyouts declined after the collapse of the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...

in 2000 and 2001. But after the two-stage buyout of Dex 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 with

Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS), also referred to as Welsh Carson, is a private equity firm. WCAS was formed in 1979 and focuses on investing the industries of technology and healthcare, primarily in the United States. WCAS has a current ...

, led a $7.5 billion buyout of QwestDex, the third-largest corporate buyout since 1989. 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. R. H. Donnelley Corporation acquired Dex Media in 2006. Lou Gerstner, former chairman and CEO of

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

and

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco' ...

, replaced

Frank Carlucci Frank Charles Carlucci III ( ; October 18, 1930 – June 3, 2018) was an American politician who served as the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. He was the first Italian A ...

as chairman of Carlyle in January 2003. Gerstner would serve in that position through October 2008. The hiring of Gerstner was intended to reduce the perception of Carlyle as a politically dominated firm. 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%. Carlyle also announced the $1.6 billion acquisition of

Hawaiian Telcom Hawaiian Telcom, Inc., is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) or dominant local telephone company, serving the state of Hawaii. In 2005, Hawaiian Telcom Holdco, Inc., was formed by The Carlyle Group, following its purchase of the Hawaiian ...

from

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

in May 2004. 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. Hertz car rental office Livonia Michigan

Hertz car rental office Livonia Michigan

As the activity of the large private equity firms increased in the mid-2000s, Carlyle kept pace with such competitors as KKR,

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...

, and

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm in ...

. In 2005, Carlyle, together with

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC (CD&R) is an American private equity company. CD&R is the 24th oldest private equity firm in the world. CD&R has managed the investment of more than $30 billion in approximately 90 businesses, representing a bro ...

and

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

completed the $15.0 billion leveraged buyout of

The Hertz Corporation Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (formerly The Hertz Corporation), known as Hertz, is an American car rental company based in Estero, Florida. The company operates its namesake Hertz brand, along with the brands Dollar Rent A Car, Firefly Car Re ...

, the largest car rental agency from Ford. The following year, in August 2006, Carlyle and its

Riverstone Holdings Riverstone Holdings is a multinational corporation, multinational private equity firm based in New York City focused on leveraged buyout, growth capital, and credit (finance), credit investments in the energy industry and electrical power industry ...

affiliate partnered with

Goldman Sachs Capital Partners Goldman Sachs Alternatives is the alternative investment arm of Goldman Sachs, focused on private equity, private credit, secondaries, real estate, infrastructure, and growth equity investments globally. The group, which is based in New York ...

in the $27.5 billion (including assumed debt) acquisition of

Kinder Morgan Kinder Morgan, Inc. is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. The company specializes in owning and controlling oil and gas pipelines and terminals. Kinder Morgan owns an interest in or operates approximately ...

, one of the largest pipeline operators in the US. The buyout was backed by

Richard Kinder Richard D. Kinder (born October 19, 1944) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of Kinder Morgan Inc., an energy and pipeline corporation. Early life Richard Kinder was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 194 ...

, the company's co-founder and a former president of

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

. In September 2006, Carlyle led a consortium, comprising

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...

,

Permira Permira Holdings Limited is a British global investment firm specialised in buyouts, growth funds, equity funds, and credit funds. Founded in 1985 as part of Schroders, it became independent in 1996. Operating as Permira since 2001, the company ...

and

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm in ...

, in the $17.6 billion takeover of

Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embedde ...

. At the time of its announcement, Freescale would be the largest leveraged buyout of a technology company ever, surpassing the 2005 buyout of

SunGard SunGard was an American multinational company based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, which provided software and services to education, financial services, and public sector organizations. It was formed in 1983, as a spin-off of the computer services di ...

. 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. Earlier that year, in January 2006, Carlyle together with

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...

,

AlpInvest Partners AlpInvest Partners is a global private equity asset manager with over $85 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2024. The firm invests on behalf of more than 500 institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South Amer ...

,

Hellman & Friedman Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) is an American private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman, that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts as well as growth capital investments. H&F has focused its efforts ...

, KKR and

Thomas H. Lee Partners Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. is an American private equity firm headquartered in Boston. The firm focuses on investing in middle market growth companies across various sectors, including financial technology, services, healthcare, technology, ...

acquired

Nielsen Company Nielsen Holdings plc (or Nielsen) is an American media audience measurement firm. Nielsen operates in over 100 countries and employs approximately 15,000 people worldwide. For most of its history, the company was known for its two subsidiarie ...

, the global information and media company formerly known as VNU in an $8.9 billion buyout. Also in 2006, Carlyle acquired

Oriental Trading Company Oriental Trading Company is a direct merchant of value-priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys, novelties, and school supplies. It was founded in 1932 as a wholesaling company. It is based in Omaha, Nebraska, and is owned by Berkshire Hatha ...

which ultimately declared bankruptcy in August 2010 as well as Forba Dental Management, the owner of Small Smiles Dental Centers, the largest US chain of dental clinics for children.

2011-2017

In 2011, Carlyle acquired

AlpInvest Partners AlpInvest Partners is a global private equity asset manager with over $85 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2024. The firm invests on behalf of more than 500 institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South Amer ...

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.

Since 2017

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 named

Glenn Youngkin Glenn Allen Youngkin (born December 9, 1966) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 74th governor of Virginia since 2022. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he spent 25 years at the Private equi ...

and Kewsong Lee to succeed them, as co-CEOs, effective January 1, 2018. In October 2017, the Carlyle Group made a $500 million investment in the brand Supreme valuing the company at $1 billion. In 2020, the investment was acquired by

VF Corporation VF Corporation (formerly Vanity Fair Mills until 1969) is an American global apparel and footwear company founded in 1899 by John Barbey and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The company's 11 brands are organized into three categories: Outdoor ...

, which owns

The North Face The North Face is an American outdoor recreation products company. The North Face produces outdoor clothing, footwear, and related equipment. Founded in 1968 to supply climbers, the company's logo draws inspiration from Half Dome, a distinct ...

, Timberland, and

Vans Vans (originally called the Van Doren Rubber Company) is an American apparel, accessories, and skateboarding shoes brand, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and ...

for $2.1 billion. On October 14, 2019, the Carlyle Group and private equity firm Stellex Capital Management announced it had completed the acquisition and merger of shipbuilder Vigor 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. 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. Also in June 2020, Unison had been purchased by the Carlyle Group and Unison management strategic investment company. 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. 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. Youngkin would later go on to be elected

Governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The Governor (United States), governor is head of the Government_of_Virginia#Executive_branch, executive branch ...

in the state's 2021 gubernatorial election. In January 2021, the Carlyle Group acquired a majority stake in Jagex, a British

video game development Video game development (sometimes shortened to gamedev) is the process of creating a video game. It is a multidisciplinary practice, involving programming, design, art, audio, user interface, and writing. Each of those may be made up of more speci ...

studio known for the

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, although t ...

''

RuneScape ''RuneScape'' is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, released in January 2001. ''RuneScape'' was originally a browser game built with the Java (programming language), Java progr ...

''. In May 2021, the Carlyle Group entered a partnership agreement with SPX Capital to enter the Brazilian market. The Carlyle Group's employees would join SPX Capital to establish its

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

strategy. SPX Capital would also become a subadvisor to the Carlyle Group's $776 million buyout fund focused on South America. In March 2022, the Carlyle Group acquired Dainese - an Italian motorcycle kit and clothing company from

Investcorp Investcorp is a global manager of alternative investment products, for private and institutional clients. Founded in Bahrain in 1982, the firm has offices in United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, India, China, ...

. 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. In August 2022, the Carlyle Group acquired Abingworth, a transatlantic bioscience investment firm. In November 2022, it was announced the Carlyle Group has acquired the international marketing agency, Incubeta. 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. In 2023, Carlyle invested in Anthesis Group, a provider of sustainability services for businesses. In September 2023, it was announced Carlyle initiated a tender offer to acquire the

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

-headquartered paper and ink chemicals manufacturer, Seiko PMC from its

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

DIC Corporation is a Japanese chemical company, specializing in the development, manufacture and sale of inks, pigments, polymers, specialty plastics and compounds and biochemicals. It was founded in 1908 as Kawamura Ink Manufactory, renamed to Kawamura Kiju ...

for $221 million. In June 2024, Carlyle announced the formation of a new Mediterranean-focused oil and gas company, led by former BP CEO

Tony Hayward Anthony Bryan Hayward (born 21 May 1957) is a British businessman and former CEO of the oil and energy company BP. He replaced the Baron Browne of Madingley on 1 May 2007. His tenure ended on 1 October 2010 when he was replaced by Bob Dudle ...

, after acquiring Energean's assets in Egypt, Italy, and Croatia for up to $945 million. In October 2024, Carlyle Group strengthened its partnership with Korea Investment & Securities to discover attractive global products on the one-year anniversary of its strategic alliance. In February 2025, The Carlyle Group 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. In February 2025, Carlyle Group announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Bluebird Bio to be acquired by a fund managed by SK Capital Partners.

Ownership changes

For the first 25 years of its existence, Carlyle operated as a private partnership controlled by its investment partners. In 2001, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (

CalPERS The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees, and their families".CalPERSFa ...

), which had been an investor in Carlyle managed funds since 1996, acquired a 5.5% holding in Carlyle's management company for $175 million. The investment was valued at about $1 billion by 2007 at the height of the 2000s buyout boom. In September 2007,

Mubadala Development Company Mubadala Investment Company PJSC (), or simply Mubadala, is a state-owned global investment firm that acts as one of the sovereign wealth funds of the government of Abu Dhabi. The company was established in 2017 when then-named Mubadala Developme ...

, an investment vehicle for the government of

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, purchased a 7.5% stake for $1.35 billion. 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. In May 2012, Carlyle completed an initial public offering of the company, listing under the symbol CG on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

. 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. In June 2017, Carlyle took its non-traded BDC, TCG BDC, Inc., public in the first business development company IPO since 2014. The Carlyle Group has been a majority shareholder of Seidor since August 2024.

Corporate affairs

Business trends

The key trends for Carlyle are (as of the financial year ending December 31):

Ownership

Carlyle is mainly owned by institutional investors, who hold around 63% of all shares. The 10 largest shareholders in early 2025 were: * Daniel A. D'Aniello (9.10%) * William E. Conway Jr. (8.40%) *

David Rubenstein David Mark Rubenstein (born August 11, 1949) is an American lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist. A former government official, he is a co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, *

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

(8.10%) *

The Vanguard Group The Vanguard Group, Inc. is an American registered investment adviser founded on May 1, 1975, and based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with about $10.4 trillion in global assets under management as of 31 January 2025. It is the largest provide ...

(6.73%) * Capital World Investors (4.91%) * William Blair Investment Management (3.37%) *

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

(3.14%) *

State Street Corporation State Street Corporation is an American global financial services and bank holding company headquartered at One Congress Street in Boston with operations worldwide. The company is named after State Street in Boston, which was known as the "Gr ...

(2.16%) * Boston Partners (1.92%)

Senior leadership

* ''Chairman:'' None (''Daniel A. D'Aniello currently serves as chairman emeritus'') * ''Chief Executive:'' Harvey M. Schwartz (since February 2023)

Board of directors

Carlyle's key board of directors as of May 2025 consists of: * Harvey M. Schwartz, CEO of Carlyle Group * William E. Conway, Jr., Co-Founder and Co-Chairman * David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman * Daniel A. D'Aniello, Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus * Afsaneh Beschloss, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RockCreek * Sharda Cherwoo, Former Senior Partner at Ernst & Young LLP * Linda H. Filler, Former Executive of Walgreen Co,

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

,

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

and

Hanesbrands Hanesbrands Inc. is an American multinational clothing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It employs 65,300 people internationally. On September 6, 2006, the company and several brands were spun off by the Sara Lee Corporation. Han ...

* Lawton W. Fitt, Former Investment Banker and Partner at

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

* James H. Hance, Jr., Carlyle Operating Executive and former Vice Chairman of

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

* Mark S. Ordan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pediatrix Medical Group * Derica W. Rice, Former Executive Vice President of

CVS Health CVS Health Corporation is an American healthcare company that owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain; CVS Caremark, a pharmacy benefits manager; and Aetna, a health insurance provider, among many other brands. The company is the worl ...

and former President of CVS Caremark * William J. Shaw, Former Vice Chairman of

Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging brands that include hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. Marriott International owns over 37 ho ...

* Anthony Welters, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CINQ Care Inc. and Executive Chairman of BlackIvy Group, LLC

List of chairmen

#

Frank Carlucci Frank Charles Carlucci III ( ; October 18, 1930 – June 3, 2018) was an American politician who served as the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. He was the first Italian A ...

(1992–2003) # Lou Gerstner (2003–2008) # Daniel A. D'Aniello (2012–2018)

List of former chief executives

# William E. Conway Jr. and David M. Rubenstein (1987–2017) # Kewsong Lee and

Glenn Youngkin Glenn Allen Youngkin (born December 9, 1966) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 74th governor of Virginia since 2022. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he spent 25 years at the Private equi ...

(2017–2020) # Kewsong Lee (2020–2022)

Business segments

The firm is organized into three business segments: * Global Private Equity – Management of Carlyle's family of private equity funds investing primarily in leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions through a range of geographically focused investment funds. This segment also includes management of funds that pursue investments in real estate, infrastructure and energy and renewable resources. * Global Credit – Management of funds that pursue investments in distressed & special situations, direct lending, energy credit, loans & structured credit and opportunistic credit; and * Global Investment Solutions – Management of funds that invest in private equity and real estate fund of funds, co-investment and secondaries through its

AlpInvest Partners AlpInvest Partners is a global private equity asset manager with over $85 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2024. The firm invests on behalf of more than 500 institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South Amer ...

subsidiary.

Global Private Equity

Carlyle's Corporate Private Equity division manages a series of

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...

and

growth capital Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority interest, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new markets ...

investment funds with specific geographic or industry focuses. Carlyle invests primarily in the following industries:

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

,

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

& government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services,

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

, industrial, real estate, technology and business services,

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

&

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

, and

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

. 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. 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.

Global Credit

Carlyle's Global Credit pursues investment opportunities across various segments of

private credit Private credit is an asset defined by non-bank lending where the debt is not issued or traded on the public markets. "Private credit" can also be referred to as " direct lending" or " private lending". It is a subset of "alternative credit". E ...

managing $194 billion in AUM as of December 31, 2024. Global Credit's key areas of focus are: * Liquid Credit, managing

collateralized loan obligation Collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) are a form of securitization where payments from multiple middle sized and large business loans are pooled together and passed on to different classes of owners in various tranches. A CLO is a type of colla ...

investment vehicles. * Direct Lending, focused on leveraged finance investments primarily in

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

-owned companies. * Opportunistic Credit, which invests in

mezzanine capital Mezzanine capital is a type of financing that sits between senior debt and equity in a company's capital structure. It is typically used to fund growth, acquisitions, or buyouts. Technically, mezzanine capital can be either a debt or equity ins ...

and

distressed securities In corporate finance, distressed securities are security (finance), securities over companies or government entities that are experiencing Financial distress, financial or operational distress, Default (finance), default, or are under bankruptcy. ...

* Real Assets Credit, investing in debt securities in

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

projects *

Asset-based lending Asset-based lending is any kind of lending secured by an asset. This means, if the loan is not repaid, the asset is taken. In this sense, a mortgage is an example of an asset-based loan. More commonly however, the phrase is used to describe lending ...

Investment Solutions - AlpInvest Partners

Carlyle's Investment Solutions segment advises global private equity through its subsidiary,

AlpInvest Partners AlpInvest Partners is a global private equity asset manager with over $85 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2024. The firm invests on behalf of more than 500 institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South Amer ...

.

AlpInvest Partners AlpInvest Partners is a global private equity asset manager with over $85 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2024. The firm invests on behalf of more than 500 institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South Amer ...

is a global

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

asset manager Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of all value for which a group or Entity#In law, politics, economics, accounting, entity is responsible. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as co ...

with over $85 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2024. The firm invests on behalf of more than 500

institutional investor An institutional investor is an entity that pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked ...

s from North America, Asia, Europe, South America and Africa. AlpInvest operates through three core investment teams: * Primary Fund Investments * Secondary and Portfolio Finance investments * Co-Investments. AlpInvest's investments span a broad spectrum of private market strategies including: large buyout, middle-market buyout,

private credit Private credit is an asset defined by non-bank lending where the debt is not issued or traded on the public markets. "Private credit" can also be referred to as " direct lending" or " private lending". It is a subset of "alternative credit". E ...

,

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

,

growth capital Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority interest, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new markets ...

,

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

, distressed and energy investments, including

sustainable energy Energy system, Energy is sustainability, sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the e ...

investments. As of the end of 2024, the firm had invested in more than 800

private equity fund A private equity fund (abbreviated as PE fund) is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity (and to a lesser extent debt) securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity. ...

s managed by more than 350

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

s. According to the PEI 300, AlpInvest ranked among the 50 largest private equity firms globally. 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 and PFZW). Founded in 1999, AlpInvest has offices in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

,

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

,

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

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 Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

,

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Metropolitan was sold in 2021 to

BentallGreenOak BentallGreenOak, which uses the trade name BGO, is a real estate investment firm headquartered in Miami, Florida. The firm is the real estate investment arm of Sun Life Financial. It is considered one of the largest real estate investment firms ...

.

Subsidiaries and joint-ventures

Carlyle has been actively expanding its investment activities and assets under management through a series of acquisitions and joint-ventures.

Carlyle Capital Corporation

In March 2008, Carlyle Capital Corporation – established in August 2006 for the purpose of making investments in U.S.

mortgage-backed securities A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security (an "Financial instrument, instrument") which is secured by a mortgage loan, mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and sold to a group of individuals ( ...

– defaulted on about $16.6 billion of debt as the global credit crunch brought about by the

subprime mortgage crisis The American subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010, contributing to the 2008 financial crisis. It led to a severe economic recession, with millions becoming unemployed and many busines ...

worsened for leveraged investors. The

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

-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. Tremors in the mortgage markets induced several of Carlyle's 13 lenders to make

margin call ''Margin Call'' is a 2011 American drama film written and directed by J. C. Chandor in his feature directorial debut. The principal story takes place over a 24-hour period at a large Wall Street investment bank during the initial stages of the ...

s or to declare Carlyle in default on its loans. 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, the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

gave Wall Street's

primary dealer A primary dealer is a firm that buys government securities directly from a government, with the intention of reselling them to others, thus acting as a market maker of government securities. The government may regulate the behaviour and number of i ...

s the right to post mortgaged-back securities as collateral for loans of up to $200 billion in higher-grade, U.S. government-backed securities. On March 12, 2008,

BBC News Online BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the U ...

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." 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 for a "compulsory winding up proceeding" to permit all its remaining assets to be liquidated by a court-appointed liquidator. The losses to the Carlyle Group due to the collapse of Carlyle Capital are reported to be "minimal from a financial standpoint". In September 2017, the court ruled that Carlyle had no liability in the lawsuit.

In documentaries

Carlyle has been profiled in

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

's ''

Fahrenheit 9/11 ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed, written by, and starring Michael Moore. The subjects of the film are the presidency of George W. Bush, the Iraq War, and the media's coverage of the war. In the film, Moore state ...

'' and William Karel's '' The World According to Bush''. In ''Fahrenheit 9/11'', Moore makes nine allegations concerning the Carlyle Group. Moore focused on Carlyle's connections with

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

and his Secretary of State

James Baker James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House chief of staff and 67th United States secretary ...

, both of whom had at times served as advisers to the firm. The movie quotes author Dan Briody, who claimed that the Carlyle Group "gained" from the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

because it owned military contractor

United Defense United Defense Industries (UDI) was an American defense contractor which became part of BAE Systems Land & Armaments after being acquired by BAE Systems in 2005. The company produced combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and ...

. A Carlyle spokesman noted in 2003 that its 7% interest in defense industries was far less than several other

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

s. In ''The World According to Bush'', William Karel interviewed

Frank Carlucci Frank Charles Carlucci III ( ; October 18, 1930 – June 3, 2018) was an American politician who served as the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. He was the first Italian A ...

to discuss the presence of Shafiq bin Laden,

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

's estranged brother, at Carlyle's annual investor conference while the September 11 attacks were occurring.

References

* * * *

External links

*
Mubadala Development Company

Carlyle Group - Mergr Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlyle Group 1987 establishments in Washington, D.C. 2012 initial public offerings Financial services companies established in 1987 Companies listed on the Nasdaq Financial services companies based in Washington, D.C. Mezzanine capital investment firms Private equity firms based in Washington, D.C. American companies established in 1987 Companies in the S&P 400 Glenn Youngkin

History

Founding and early history

Carlyle in the early 2000s

2011-2017

Since 2017

Ownership changes

Corporate affairs

Business trends

Ownership

Senior leadership

Board of directors

List of chairmen

List of former chief executives

Business segments

Global Private Equity

Global Credit

Investment Solutions - AlpInvest Partners

Subsidiaries and joint-ventures

Carlyle Capital Corporation

In documentaries

See also

References

External links