Carlyle Seeks $3B For Asian Buyout Fund

The Carlyle Group is raising a new Asian buyout fund with a target of up to $3 billion, according to two industry sources.

Carlyle Asia Partners III would be the firm’s third Asian buyout fund and will focus on Greater China and Southeast Asia, where Carlyle Group has been expanding aggressively in the past few years, said the sources, both institutional investors who have been briefed on Carlyle Group’s plan and declined to be identified because the fund-raising process is private.

The Washington D.C.-based firm has been in talks with some potential institutional investors for a few months to raise a successor fund to the one launched in July 2006 and that closed with $1.8 billion. Carlyle Group declined to comment on the latest effort.

In June, Carlyle Group said it raised $1.04 billion for its fourth Asia growth capital fund to invest in China, India, South Korea and other Asian emerging markets. Early this year, Carlyle Group raised a new $13.7 billion U.S. buyout fund. Carlyle Group has been also investing in property across Asia through its regional real estate funds for years.

In Asia, Carlyle Group competes with other U.S. buyout giants such as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and The Blackstone Group for deals.–George Chen is an Asia Private Equity Correspondent for Reuters.