Carlyle starts new era with profit decline
THE co-head of Carlyle Group sought to play down the significance of quarterly reporting as the US private equity firm posted a 26 per cent decline in quarterly profit.
Co-founder and co-chief executive David Rubenstein urged investors not to focus “disproportionately” on its quarter-to-quarter results after a disappointing first earnings report as a public company.
Economic net income, a measure of profitability that takes into account the mark-to-market valuation of its assets, fell to $392m (£245m).
The decline was mainly due to its corporate private equity segment that contributes two-thirds of its distributable earnings. Carlyle could not raise as much cash from its investments as it did this time last year, when its Asian buyout funds sold assets.
Assets under management increased 48 per cent to $159.2bn, with fee-paying assets under management at $117bn. Carlyle said it generated realised proceeds of $3.8bn for its fund investors in the first quarter.
Co-chief executive Bill Conway said: “It is precisely at times like this when economic data and markets are sending confusing signals that the best investments can be made.”