The Carlyle Group is a Washington, DC based global private equity investment firm with more than $18 billion of equity capital. The firm employs more than 300 investment professionals in 14 countries with multiple offices in North America, Europe and Asia. The firm operates four fund families, focusing on leveraged buyouts, venture capital, real estate and high-yield investments.
Carlyle was founded in 1987 by William E. Conway, Jr., Daniel A. D'Aniello, and David M. Rubenstein. The three founders are reported to collectively own around a 50% interest in the group's general partnership. The founders named the firm after the upper east side hotel in New York City, "The Carlyle." Carlyle's current chairman is Lou Gerstner, former chairman and CEO of IBM.
Carlyle specializes in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Consumer & Industrial, Energy & Power, Healthcare, Real Estate, Technology & Business Services, Telecom & Media, and Transportation. The Group's aerospace and defense investments have been a source of left wing criticism (much due to Michael Moore's depiction in "Fahrenheit 9/11") because of the Group's alleged connections to the Middle East. Carlyle Group's investments are focused on East Asia, Europe, and North America and defense investments represent only about 7% of the group's portfolio.
Critics of the Carlyle Group frequently note its connections to various political figures. Unlike most private equity firms which are predominately located in New York, Boston or around San Francisco, Carlyle is the only large private equity firm located in Washington, DC. Corporate headquarters are on Pennsylvania Avenue, midway between the White House and the Capitol building. In addition, critics will often mistakenly refer to Carlyle as a private defense contractor, due to its history of investment in aerospace and defense.
Richard Darman, former Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under George H. W. Bush, Senior Advisor and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group
William Kennard, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Carlyle's Managing Director in the Telecommunications & Media Group
The Saudi Arabian relatives of Osama bin Laden (not Osama bin Laden himself) were also minor investors in Carlyle until October 2001 when the family sold its $2.02 million investment back to the firm in light of the public controversy surrounding the bin Laden family after September 11.
Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid: Those Spooky Carlyle Rumors (http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=7622), Jonathan A. Knee, page 26 of June 9, 2003 edition of The New York Observer
Why The Carlyle Group is afraid of Stop Carlyle? (http://isuisse.ifrance.com/stopcarlyle/enindex.htm)
Established in 1987, The CarlyleGroup is a private global investment firm that originates, structures and acts as lead equity investor in management-led buyouts, strategic minority equity investments, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, and growth capital financings.
Carlyle is a private partnership, which means that it is owned by a group of individuals, most of whom are Managing Directors at Carlyle, and two institutional investors.
Carlyle engages in management-led buyouts, which are the purchase of companies in cooperation with the current management. A combination of equity and debt is used for the typical transaction. The equity mostly comes from Carlyle’s various funds and other “co-investors” and the debt typically comes from major banks.
Carlyle has ownership in over 500 companies and corporations worldwide, and a brief look through its investment portfolio shows that the firm does not hesitate to sieze opportunities as they come.
However, some say Carlyle is more than a simple investment firm; given its unique membership, its political ties, and the industries from which it profits most, the company seems to fit the bill of a military-industrial complex in more ways that one.
The CarlyleGroup was founded in 1987 by William E. Conway, Jr., the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the telecommunications giant MCI, Daniel A. D’Aniello, an executive with Marriot Corporation, and David M. Rubenstein, a former aide to President Carter.
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