The is a ,
Venture &
Growth Capital ,
Real Estate and
Leveraged Finance investments. The firm employs more than 515 investment professionals in 21 countries with several offices in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia; its portfolio companies employ more than 286,000 people worldwide. Carlyle has over 1100 investors in 61 countries.
Carlyle was founded in 1987 by
William E. Conway, Jr. ,
Daniel A. D'Aniello ,
Stephen L. Norris ,
Greg A. Rosenbaum , and
David M. Rubenstein David A. Vise, "Area Merchant Banking Firm Formed," Washington Post, Oct. 5, 1987, F33.. Rosenbaum left in 1987Paul Farhi, "Chi-Chi's Bid Won D.C. Investment Firm Wall Street's Attention," Washington Post, June 6, 1988, F1.; Norris left in 1995John Mintz, "Founder Going Beyond the Carlyle Group," Washington Post, Jan. 9, 1995, F9.. The three remaining founders are reported to collectively own around a 50% interest in the group's general partnership. The
California Public Employees Retirement System (or CalPERS) is the only institution which owns a stake in the partnership, holding 5.5% of Carlyle.
As they wanted the firm to outlive them, the founders named the firm after the upper east side hotel in
New York City , the
Carlyle Hotel , where they first met to discuss the idea. Carlyle's current chairman is
Lou Gerstner , former chairman and CEO of
IBM and
Nabisco .
Carlyle deals in the following industries:
Aerospace &
Defense ,
Automotive , Consumer & Retail, Energy &
Power ,
Healthcare ,
Real Estate ,
Technology & Business Services ,
Telecommunications &
Media , and
Transport ation. The Carlyle Group's investments are focused on
East Asia ,
Europe and
North America , with most investment money coming from the United States (65%), Europe (25%), Asia (6%), Latin America, and the Middle East. Defense investments represent about 1% of the group's current portfolio — though this translates, for example, into a 33.8% ownership of
QinetiQ , the UK's recently
Privatized defence company.
Though known for its expertise in aerospace and defense, Carlyle invested more than thirty percent of its assets in the telecommunications and media sector. Noted portfolio companies are Dex Media, the former directories business of
Qwest Communications;
Willcom , a Japanese wireless company;
Casema , a Dutch cable company; and Insight Communications, the ninth largest cable company in the U.S. The Carlyle Group is also a major investor in
US Investigations Services , which is the privatized arm of the United States
Office Of Personnel Management 's Office of Federal Investigations.
and
Baskin-Robbins , and dental hygiene company
Water Pik . Carlyle also recently took rental car company
Hertz public.
On
January 29 2007 , Carlyle announced that it would acquire
Synagro Technologies, Inc , which according to Synagro's website is "the largest recycler of biosolids and other organic residuals in the United States". The total enterprise value of the transaction, including the assumption of debt, is $772 million.
"The Carlyle Group to Acquire Synagro Technologies for $5.76 Per Share" 2007-01-29
On
June 28 2007 , Carlyle announced that it would partner with
Onex Corporation to buy the
Allison Transmission unit from
General Motors for $5.6 billion.
Reuters/Yahoo! News: "GM selling Allison for $5.6 billion," 2007-06-28
On
July 2 2007 , it was disclosed that the Carlyle Group was looking to buy Virgin Media UK cable business.
CNN Money: "Virgin Media In Talks With Carlyle Group Over Buyout," 2007-07-02 Richard Branson is the largest shareholder, and the Virgin Group own the name Virgin, and Virgin Media have the rights to use the name Virgin for 10 years.
On
July 28 2007 , Carlyle announced the acquisition of Applus from its shareholders Agbar, Union Fenosa and Caja Madrid for an enterprise value of €1,480 million.
"Carlyle Group acquires Applus," 2007-07-28
Caryle acquired self-propelled howitzer which was cancelled by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in early 2002 causing United Defense stock prices to fall 27 percent.
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Critics of the Carlyle Group frequently note its connections to various political figures. Some of the sectors and companies in which it invests are highly sensitive to political activity; indeed, its actions may be viewed as a form of - its corporate headquarters are located on
Pennsylvania Avenue . Some have also linked Carlyle to some of lesser-known companies that have been linked to US Intelligence, such as Centre Analytics and In-Q-Tel.
In the book ''
House Of Bush, House Of Saud '', author
Craig Unger states that
Saudi Arabia n interests have given $1.4 billion to firms connected to the
Bush Family . Nearly 85% of the $1.4 billion, or about $1.18 billion, refers to Saudi Arabian government contracts awarded to defense contractor
BDM in the early to mid
1990s . Carlyle, however, sold its interest in BDM before former President
George H. W. Bush joined as an advisor.
The Saudi Arabian relatives of (SBG), whose investments were in part managed by the Carlyle Group until the arrangement was terminated by mutual consent.
- James Baker III , former United States Secretary Of State under George H. W. Bush , Staff member under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, Carlyle Senior Counselor, served in this capacity from 1993 to 2005.
- George H. W. Bush , former U.S. President, Senior Advisor to the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board from April 1998 to October 2003.
- George W. Bush , current U.S. President. Was appointed in 1990 to the Board of Directors of one of Carlyle's first acquisitions, an airline food business called Caterair , which Carlyle eventually sold at a loss. Bush left the board in 1992 to run for Governor of Texas.
- Frank C. Carlucci , former United States Secretary Of Defense from 1987 to 1989 ; Also, former Princeton wrestling partner of former US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld . Carlyle Chairman and Chairman Emeritus from 1989 to 2005.
- Richard Darman , former Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under George H. W. Bush , Senior Advisor and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group from 1993 to the present
- Allan Gotlieb , Canadian ambassador to the United States (1981-89) and member of Carlyle's Canadian advisory board.
- Liu Hong-Ru , former chairman of China's Securities Regulatory Commission
- William Kennard , Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under President Bill Clinton , Carlyle's Managing Director in the Telecommunications & Media Group from 2001 to the present.
- Arthur Levitt , Chairman of the U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC) under President Bill Clinton , Carlyle Senior Advisor from 2001 to the present
- Peter Lougheed - Premier of Alberta (1971-85)
- John Major , former British Prime Minister , Chairman, Carlyle Europe from 2002 until 2005
- Frank McKenna , Canadian Ambassador to the United States and former member of Carlyle's Canadian advisory board
- Mack McLarty , White House Chief Of Staff under President Bill Clinton , President of Kissinger McLarty Associates , Carlyle Senior Advisor from 2003 to the present
- Anand Panyarachun , former Prime Minister of Thailand (twice), former member of the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board until the board was disbanded in 2004
- Fidel Ramos , former president of the Philippines , Carlyle Asia Advisor Board Member until the board was disbanded in 2004
- Dan Senor - political consultant
- Thaksin Shinawatra , deposed Prime Minister of Thailand, former member of board, who resigned on taking office in 2001
- Luis Téllez Kuenzler , Mexican economist, current Secretary of Communications and Transportation under the Calderon administration and former Secretary of Energy under the Zedillo administration.
- James K. Glassman, "Big Deals," Washingtonian Magazine, June 2006 http://carlyle.com/eng/news/l3-presskit591.html
- Geoffrey Colvin & Ram Charan, "Private Lives," Fortune Magazine, November 27, 2006 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/11/27/8394344/?postversion=2006112713
- Emily Thornton, "Carlyle Changes Its Stripes," Business Week, February 12, 2007 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/toc/07_07/B4021magazine.htm
- Dan Briody, ''The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group'', John Wiley & Sons, 2003, ISBN 0-471-28108-5.
- What Did Eisenhower Mean When He Warned of a Military Industrial Complex? Take a Look at the Carlyle Group An interview with Dan Briody
- The Carlyle Group purchases Stop Carlyle web domains and The SLZ Group AG. , in French.
- The Carlyle Group at hereinreality.com, with many links.
- VPRO Tegenlicht: Carlyle Group (uses Flash) , documentary created by Dutch VPRO TV program Tegenlicht ; in Dutch.
- De IJzeren Driehoek (Exposed: The Carlyle Group) by VPRO Dutch television High-speed internet connection. Note: The first minute and fortyseven seconds of this program is broadcast in Dutch, The remainder is in English.
- Sourcewatch article
- "Greed of the highest order and the worst privatisation since rail" by George Monbiot , on the privatisation of Qinetiq , the British government's defence research service, giving the Carlyle Group around £351m on their 31% share bought in 2002 for £42m. '' The Guardian '', February 14 , 2006
- "Bush special envoy embroiled in controversy over Iraq debt" by Naomi Klein , about a deal in Kuwait . '' The Guardian '', October 13 , 2004
