What is The Carlyle Group? The Carlyle Group Review

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The Carlyle Group has always been known as the "President's Club" in the investment community. Former U.S. President George Bush serves as chairman of Carlyle's Asian Advisory Board, former British Prime Minister John Major serves as chairman of Carlyle's European branch, and former Philippine President Ramos and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Arthur Levitt serve as its advisors.

Company Introduction

Founded in 1987 in Washington, D.C., Carlyle has grown into one of the world's largest and most successful investment firms, with more than 1,650 professionals and 31 offices in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.

Four major business units

1. Corporate Private Equity – M&A and Growth Capital

2. Real assets - real estate, infrastructure, and energy and renewable resources

3. Global Credit - Distressed and Special Assets, Direct Lending, Energy Credit, Loans and Structured Credit and Opportunistic Credit

4. Investment Solutions - Investing in a broad and complex field of alternative investment strategies - private equity and real estate

Corporate Culture

The pursuit of excellence is the unwavering goal of the Carlyle Group. This tension in our blood drives us forward and has earned us many recognitions in the industry. No matter what the market environment, Carlyle always seizes opportunities for its companies and investors. As an industry pioneer, Carlyle will continue to maintain our advantages, help its portfolio companies maintain stable growth and create lasting value by leveraging the strong capital strength accumulated over the years, the strength of its brand, and the tenacity forged by past challenges.

Investment Directions

The investment directions span 11 core industries, namely aerospace defense and government services, commodities, automobiles and transportation, consumer and retail, energy and electricity, financial services, health care, industry, real estate, technology and business services, telecommunications and media.

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As of June 30, 2012, Carlyle manages approximately $156 billion of capital and is engaged in corporate private equity, real assets, global strategic financial assets and fund of funds solutions investments through its 99 funds and 63 fund of funds.

As of September 30, 2017, its assets under management reached US$174 billion, with more than 300 investment funds. Its businesses mainly cover corporate private equity investment, real asset investment, global market strategy and investment solutions.

As of December 31, 2018, Carlyle’s global portfolio included 276 companies and more than 325 active real estate investment projects, with access to real-time and effective data.

Development History

In 1987, Daniel A. D'aniello, David M. Rubenstein and William E. Conway founded the Carlyle Group in Washington with a registered capital of US$5 million.

In 1990, it issued its first $1 million M&A fund and acquired BDM International from Ford in the same year.

In 1997, we participated in the purchase of the US Department of Defense industry. Later, the US real estate business and venture capital department were established, and the European office was opened to focus on leveraged buyouts.

In 1998, the first Asian office was established in Hong Kong, and in the following four years, venture capital and real estate businesses in Europe and Asia were also opened.

After entering the 20th century, in 2003, Lou Gerstner, CEO of |BM, was invited to serve as chairman and Kio was acquired.

In 2004, the credit investment team was established.

In 2007, the Middle East and North Africa Investment Organization was established.

In 2008, it was named the most influential M&A company by Fortune magazine.

In 2010-2011, the global market strategy business was developed through the purchase of 3 companies’ businesses

In 2011, the Solutions business was established through the acquisition of AlpInvest Partners BV and the first Corporate Relationship Report was published in the same year.

On May 3, 2012, Carlyle went public on NASDAQ, selling 30.5 million shares of Prudential at $22 per share in an IPO, raising a total of $671 million.

In 2014, it sold its shares in Beats Electronics to Apple.

In 2015, the acquired company Axalta completed its IPO and raised approximately $1.1 billion.

In February 2017, the US private equity giant Carlyle Group announced the acquisition of all shares of the Italian light luxury brand Golden Goose Deluxe Brand (Chinese translation: "Golden Goose", hereinafter referred to as "Golden Goose").

In Asia

In 1998, Carlyle established its first Asian office and regional headquarters in Hong Kong. Since then, Carlyle Group has expanded its network in the Asia-Pacific region to eight offices: Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Among them, Beijing, Mumbai and Sydney offices were established in 2005.

Carlyle Asia Partners

Carlyle Asia Partners (CAP) is one of the largest and most active equity investment teams in Asia (excluding Japan), with professional investment personnel in six offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, Seoul, Sydney and Singapore. With strong local resources, Carlyle Asia Partners makes equity investments in Greater China, India, South Korea, Australia, Singapore and Southeast Asia.

The Carlyle Asia Fund team manages three funds: Carlyle Asia Fund 1 (US$750 million, established in 1999), Fund 2 (US$1.8 billion, established in 2006) and Fund 3 (US$2.55 billion, completed in 2010).

In Japan

In September 2007, the Carlyle Group announced plans to invest US$20 million in New World Education Group, a leading comprehensive language training and education institution in China that specializes in Japanese language training.

In September 2015, Carlyle Japan Partners III, the third Japanese acquisition fund under the Carlyle Group, completed fundraising totaling US$1 billion.

In March 2019, Carlyle and Japan's largest investment bank Nomura Holdings jointly launched an acquisition of Orion Breweries, Japan's fifth largest beer producer. Carlyle Group will own a 49% minority stake in Orion Breweries, and Nomura Holdings will own the remaining 51% controlling stake. The acquisition was completed by Carlyle Japan Partners III, LP, the third investment fund under the Carlyle Group's Japanese division.

In China

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In January 2018, Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG), a global alternative asset management firm, announced that Wanlin Liu joined Carlyle’s Asia Private Equity team as Managing Director. Based in Shanghai, she leads Carlyle’s growth private equity investment business in China.

Development History

In 1998, the first Asian office was established in Hong Kong.

In 1999, Carlyle invested more than US$6 million in Asia Business Online, the first online business procurement service provider in China. The latter was acquired by the American office supplies company Office Depot in early 2006 and renamed Office Depot.

In 2000, Ctrip, which had only been established for a year, received US$15.77 million from Softbank, Carlyle and other institutions during the Internet winter, of which Carlyle invested US$8 million.

In 2003, Carlyle exited Ctrip for more than US$60 million, earning more than 8 times the return.

On July 5, 2005, the global private equity firm Carlyle Group established an office in Beijing, which is the third office of the firm after establishing full-time offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

In 2005, Carlyle and Prudential Financial invested US$410 million in China's third largest life insurance company, Pacific Life Insurance ("CPIC"), acquiring a 24.97% stake in the latter. In 2009, CPIC's H shares were listed, and Carlyle reaped nearly 10 times the profit. CPIC also became Carlyle's most successful investment in Asia at the time. As of 2013, after several reductions, Carlyle exited CPIC with a total profit of US$4.3 billion, becoming one of its most profitable single investments in history.

In March 2009, Carlyle Asia Growth Fund invested US$20 million in Shenzhen Ellas Garment Industrial Co., Ltd.

In September 2009, Carlyle Asia Partners invested in Guangdong Yashili Group Co., Ltd.

In November 2009, Carlyle Asia Growth Fund invested more than US$60 million in three Chinese companies: Nantong Rainbow Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd., Arietech (China) Fertilizer Co., Ltd. and Zonghengtiandi Business Travel Service Co., Ltd.

In December 2009, Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd., invested by Carlyle Asia Fund, was listed in Hong Kong.

In December 2009, China Forestry Holdings Limited, Kaisa Group Holdings Limited and Concord Medical Group Limited, all investments of Carlyle Asia Growth Fund, went public.

In January 2010, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Beijing Municipal Financial Work Bureau to establish the Carlyle RMB Fund in Beijing.

In February 2010, it announced a strategic partnership with Fosun Group to establish a co-branded RMB fund to share best practices and resources and jointly invest in Chinese opportunities globally.

In April 2010, Carlyle Asia Partners raised $2.55 billion for its third fund, optimistic about China's investment prospects and leading a new round of development in the global private equity industry.

In June 2010, Carlyle Asia Growth Partners completed four growth capital investments with a total equity investment of more than US$140 million, including an investment in China's Postal Group.

In July 2010, Carlyle Asia Partners III conditionally acquired Charoen Pokphand Group's CP Group for US$175 million.

In July 2010, Beijing Carlyle RMB Fund completed its first closing and is available for immediate investment. The fund's ultimate target size is RMB 5 billion (approximately US$740 million), and the investment targets are large growth companies in Beijing and across China. Carlyle has received capital commitments of more than RMB 2.4 billion (approximately US$350 million) from multiple sources, including contributions from Beijing State-owned Capital Operation and Management Center, Beijing Equity Investment Development Fund, and other large state-owned enterprises, private enterprises and individuals.

In August 2010, Carlyle Group announced the launch of simplified and traditional Chinese websites to serve audiences in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In August 2010, Yashili Group, a Carlyle-invested company, announced the establishment of a Food Quality and Safety Committee to optimize the quality supervision system and help Yashili accelerate its internationalization process.

In January 2014, it cashed in $285 million by selling shares in Haier Electronics Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese home appliance manufacturer. In January 2017, Carlyle Group and China CITIC Group (CITIC) spent $2.08 billion to acquire McDonald's (198.9, 1.38, 0.70%)'s mainland China and Hong Kong business.

References

• 1. Carlyle Group CEO: China is still an excellent investment target: Sina Finance [cited on 2017-06-27]