Carlyle Group Breaks $10 Bln Mark With Sixth Flagship Fund

Carlyle Group, which manages about $180 billion in assets, made its latest fundraising tally official in a Form D filing for Carlyle Partners VI on Aug. 29. The filing follows bullish comments on money-raising made by an executive during its quarterly conference call with investors on August 7. All told, Carlyle Group raised $6.9 billion of new capital in the second quarter and $19.7 billion during the last 12 months.

Signaling more potential success, Carlyle Group Co-Chief Executive Officer David Rubenstein said during the conference call that the firm has “a strong pipeline” for additional commitments for Carlyle Partners VI.

“Importantly, the fee rates associated with CP VI, which are now turned on, are in line with those in the predecessor U.S. buyout fund,” Rubenstein said. Typically, mega-funds of around $10 billion or more charge annual management fees of between 1 percent and 1.5 percent of committed capital during the investment period.

With a hard cap of $12 billion for external commitments, the fundraising period for Carlyle Partners VI ends in the fourth quarter, he said.

The $10.2 billion in commitments for Carlyle Partners VI listed in its August 29 Form D amendment exceed by $1.7 billion the tally of $8.5 billion in its earlier amendment on July 24. Executives at the firm declined to comment further on the fundraising for this article.

Among limited partners backing Carlyle Partners VI, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System pledged $547 million to the fund in its biggest private equity commitment so far in 2013, Buyouts reported on August 20.

Fundraising for Carlyle Partners VI comes after the vintage 2007 Carlyle Partners V drew in about $13.7 billion. CalPERS reported a net internal rate of return (IRR) of 9.4 percent as of Dec. 31, 2012 on an $800 million commitment to Carlyle Partners V, according to data released by the pension fund.

A dominant member of Carlyle Group’s largest fund series, Carlyle Partners V has launched some of the biggest acquisitions in the firm’s history. Portfolio companies include HD Supply Inc, Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc, Getty Images, TCW Group, Booze Allen Hamilton Inc, NBTY Inc and DuPont Performance Coatings (now called Axalta).

Besides CalPERS, other LPs in Carlyle Partners V include Alaska Permanent Fund Corp, Conversus Capital LP, Employees Retirement System of Texas and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.