Carlyle fund raises and loses Major

The Carlyle Group is out fund raising for its next European fund with a target of €2bn and is reported to have confirmed that its European chairman, former UK Prime Minister John Major, stepped down from his role with the firm in May. (Carlyle’s global chairman, Lou Gerstner, will assume responsibility for Europe.) The group is also said to be raising a €500m high yield fund following the launch of its European leveraged finance business.

Mike Ramsay has been appointed as managing director of the new business from Prudential M&G where he was head of leveraged finance. The business will act separately from the private equity business, but will be able to invest in Carlyle deals if it wants to mirroring the business strategy in the US. Carlyle’s leveraged finance business in the US has been running since 1999 and has six funds with nearly $3bn of committed capital under management. The business has invested around 5% of its funds in Carlyle deals.

The European leveraged finance business will focus on sectors Carlyle specialises in, such as healthcare, automotive, industrial, energy transportation, aerospace, telecommunications and media.