Carlyle IPO Moves Closer

The Carlyle Group L.P. is still planning to come public via an initial public offering.  The move will make one more private equity group public.  If you have tracked the trends of small floats at the IPO launch to limit supply and to establish a value, it seems that the management team at Carlyle wants to go after the same strategy.

Financial terms are not set but the company has disclosed that it plans to list under the stock ticker of “CG” on NASDAQ.  Be advised, Carlyle is one of our own TOP 17 IPOs TO WATCH IN 2012.

Carlyle has a huge underwriting group.  Book-runners are listed as J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse.  Other underwriters listed on the tombstone are as follows: BofA Merrill Lynch; Barclays; Deutsche Bank Securities; Goldman Sachs; Morgan Stanley; UBS; ICBC International; Sandler O’Neill; Keefe Bruyette & Woods; CIBC; Itaú BBA; Nomura; Ramirez & Co.; Scotiabank; Societe Generale; The Williams Capital Group; Mizuho Securities; and SMBC Nikko.  A huge syndicate indeed.

This private equity leader managed some $147 billion in total assets as of the end of 2011 if you include its four business segments of corporate private equity, real assets, global market strategies, and funds of funds.  The company established the Fund of Funds Solutions segment on July 1, 2011 when it completed the acquisition of a 60% equity interest in AlpInvest.

Consolidated revenue on a GAAP basis in 2011 was $2.84 billion, its GAAP cash distributions came to $1.49 billion, and distributable earnings came to $864.4 million.

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JON C. OGG