Carlyle gets its own Sarkozy

US buyouts behemoth The Carlyle Group has named Olivier Sarkozy – half-brother of the French president – as co-head and managing director of the firm’s global financial services group.

He joins Carlyle from UBS, where he is joint global head of FIG Investment Banking. He will be based in New York and begin his duties in April 2008.

Prior to joining UBS in 2002, he served in several senior capacities at First Boston Corporation beginning in 1993, including as managing director and head of the Depository Institutions Group. Sarkozy began his career at Dillon, Read & Co., Inc. in 1990.

Sarkozy said: “This is a unique opportunity to work with a top-tier investment firm as it establishes a new global practice. Carlyle’s global footprint and track record of success bode well for the remarkable team that has already been assembled. I look forward to working with Dave Zwiener and the team to make a mark for Carlyle in the increasingly important financial services investment sector. I leave UBS with great sadness and wish the FIG team continued success. I will continue to work with UBS in an advisory capacity and welcome UBS’s support of Carlyle’s financial services investment efforts.”

Carlyle set-up its global financial services group in June 2007, and it now has nine investment professionals, including co-head and managing director David K. Zwiener, former president and chief operating officer of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.’s property and casualty operations; managing director Randal K. Quarles, former under-secretary of the US Treasury for Domestic Finance; and managing director David M. Moffett, former vice-chairman and chief financial officer of US Bancorp.