Carlyle Group raises $14bn for new fund
The Carlyle Group has raised $14bn (€10.9bn) for a new private equity fund, bucking a downward trend in private equity fundraising worldwide.
A source familiar with the situation confirmed a report from Thomson Reuters that Carlyle has already raised $14bn for a fund that is targeting a total of $15bn over several closings.
According to the source, the fund’s final closing is expected within the next several months. It is Carlyle's fifth US-focused leveraged buyout fund.
Carlyle’s fundraising is an exception in a year when private equity fundraising has plunged from the high levels experienced in the years preceding the credit crunch.
There have been a few other exceptions, though the Carlyle fundraising was particularly large.
Last week, for instance, private equity newcomer Vanterra Capital completed the first close for its debut fund of funds, raising $152m (€120m) toward its target of $300m.
For worldwide private equity fundraising, the third quarter was the weakest in more than three years, according to a report from UK data provider Preqin.
Funds raised in the third quarter of this year totalled $82.3bn (€61bn), the lowest amount since $64.8bn was raised in the first quarter of 2005.
The amount for the third quarter of this year also represents a 54% decline from the second quarter, when fundraising finished at $179.9bn.
In the US, the total raised in the third quarter was $57.9bn against $11.9bn in Europe. Asia and the rest of the world combined for $12.5bn.
A Financial News analysis done last month using data provider Dealogic's statistics revealed that nearly three quarters of the record $1 trillion in buyouts for the 12 months preceding the credit bubble burst were done by only 25 of the biggest private equity firms—making investors worried that future fundraising would be a challenge.
—Write to Cardiff de Alejo Garcia at cardiff.garcia@dowjones.com
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