We are one of the world’s largest and most diversified multi-product
global alternative asset management firms. We advise an array of specialized
investment funds and other investment vehicles that invest across a range of
industries, geographies, asset classes and investment strategies and seek to
deliver attractive returns for our fund investors. Across our Corporate Private
Equity (“CPE”) and Real Assets segments, we have investments in
more than 250 active portfolio companies that employ more than 675,000 people.
In general, we have more investment professionals, offices, investment funds,
and investments across our platform than many of our peers. We have structured
our firm in this manner to provide our fund investors with a more diverse product
set tailored to individual investing decisions, and a broader global reach,
but such structure increases our costs of doing business.
The growth and development of our firm has been guided by several fundamental
tenets:
Excellence in Investing. Our primary goal is to invest wisely and create value
for our fund investors. We strive to generate superior investment returns by
combining deep industry expertise, a global network of local investment teams
who can leverage extensive firm-wide resources and a consistent and disciplined
investment process.
Commitment to our Fund Investors. Our fund investors come first. This commitment
is a core component of our firm culture and informs every aspect of our business.
We believe this philosophy is in the long-term best interests of Carlyle and
its owners, including our common unitholders.
Investment in the Firm. We have invested, and intend to continue to invest,
significant resources in hiring and retaining a deep talent pool of investment
professionals and in building the infrastructure of the firm, including our
expansive local office network and our comprehensive investor services team,
which provides finance, legal and compliance and tax services in addition to
other services.
Expansion of our Platform. We innovate continuously to expand our investment
capabilities through the creation or acquisition of new asset-, sector- and
regional-focused strategies in order to provide our fund investors a variety
of investment options.
Unified Culture. We seek to leverage the local market insights and operational
capabilities that we have developed across our global platform through a unified
culture we call “One Carlyle.” Our culture emphasizes collaboration
and sharing of knowledge and expertise across the firm to create value. We believe
our collaborative approach enhances our ability to analyze investments, deploy
capital and improve the performance of our portfolio companies.
There are four primary drivers of our business — fundraising or attracting
new capital commitments to our funds; investing; working to create value for
our investors or to achieve appreciation of our various investments; and harvesting,
selling or otherwise disposing of our carry fund investments. Operational and
strategic highlights for 2015 include the following:
We continued to bolster our senior management team by hiring a new Chief Information
Officer and promoting the co-head of our U.S. buyout group to Co-Deputy Chief
Investment Officer of CPE.
Each of our segments continued to leverage the One Carlyle platform to take
advantage of economies of scale and offer our fund investors differentiated
products. Specifically:
In our CPE segment:
We closed our fourth Europe buyout fund, our third Japan buyout fund and our
third European technology fund. We launched fundraising for our fifth Asia growth
fund and continued to see investor demand for our second U.S. mid-market fund
and our first longer duration global buyout fund. In total, we closed on $8.0
billion in commitments in our CPE segment.
•
We invested in, among others, Asia Satellite Telecom Holdings (through CAP IV),
The Innovation Group (through CEP IV), JIC Leasing Co., Ltd. (through CAGP IV),
Novetta Solutions, LLC (through CP VI), PA Consulting (through CEP IV), PNB
Housing Finance Limited (through CAP IV), PrimeSport (through CEOF I), Rede
D’or São Luiz S.A. (through CSABF and related coinvestments, and
CP VI) and SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. (through CEOF II).
•
We sold our stake in, among others, Altice S.A., a CEP II and CEP III portfolio
company, kbro Limited, a CAP II portfolio company, Metrologic Group SA, a CETP
II portfolio company, The Nielsen Company, a CP IV and CEP II portfolio company,
Veyance Technologies, Inc., a CP IV portfolio company, Telecable de Asturias,
S.A., a CEP III portfolio company, and a portion of our stake in both Axalta
Coating Systems and CommScope, Inc., both CP V and CEP III portfolio companies.
We also undertook several successful initial public offerings including Tsubaki
Nakashima Co., Ltd., a CJP II portfolio company, Guangxi Nanning Waterworks
Co., Ltd., a CAGP IV portfolio company and Focus Media, a CAP III portfolio
company. In total, we realized proceeds of $12.8 billion for our CPE carry fund
investors.
In our Global Market Strategies (“GMS”) segment:
CSP III and CEMOF I were particularly active this year, investing in Nationwide
Accident Repair Services (CSP III), Trey Resources (CEMOF I), and Clearly Petroleum
Holdings (CEMOF I), among others.
We established a partnership with Hilcorp Energy Company that will seek to acquire,
operate, and develop onshore oil and natural gas properties and related assets
in North America. CEMOF I and CEMOF II have entered into an agreement to invest
more than $1 billion in the newly formed partnership.
In our Real Assets segment:
We closed our seventh U.S. real estate fund and our first international energy
fund, both reaching their caps; NGP XI also had a final close at its cap. Demand
for our second power fund remained strong, and we launched fundraising for a
new core-plus real estate fund. Building on our existing expertise in real estate
and infrastructure, we intend to launch a global infrastructure fund later this
year. In total, we closed on approximately $3.9 billion in commitments to our
Real Assets segment.
We invested nearly $1.4 billion to acquire or develop real estate properties,
primarily in the U.S. across multiple sectors including multi-family and for-sale
residential properties in the U.S. We invested in power generating facilities
in the United States, an office property in China and a Romanian oil and gas
development platform.
We exited a number of investments, including a student housing portfolio in
the United Kingdom, a Florida based 250 MW coal-fired power facility, a southern
California apartment complex and a Northern Virginia mid-rise apartment complex.
In total, we realized proceeds of approximately $4.8 billion for our Real Assets
carry fund investors.
In our Investment Solutions segment:
We launched fundraising for our sixth AlpInvest secondaries fund and closed
on more than $400 million for funds that are focused on a real estate secondaries
and coinvestments for Metropolitan real Estate, our real estate fund of funds
business. In total, we closed on approximately $1.6 billion in commitments to
our Investment Solutions segment.
We named a new Head of Investment Solutions, promoting the segments Chief
Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer to the position
Our Investment Solutions team aims to apply a wide array of capabilities to
help clients meet their investment objectives. The investment approach of our
Investment Solutions platform is generally characterized as follows:
Depth of Investment Expertise. Investment Solutions has dedicated teams for
each area of focus, and seeks to attract and retain talent with the required
skill-set for each strategy. Investment Solutions professionals have trading,
operational, portfolio and risk management expertise. From a top-down perspective,
investment professionals seek to position the Investment Solutions business
to capitalize on market opportunities through focused research and allocation
of resources. From a bottom-up perspective, they seek to build deep relationships
with underlying fund managers that are strengthened by the investment professionals’
relevant experience in the broader financial markets.
Discipline. Investment Solutions professionals focus on diversification, risk
management and downside protection. Its processes include the analysis and interpretation
of macrodevelopments in the global economy and the assessment of a wide variety
of issues that can influence the emphasis placed on sectors, geographies, asset
classes and strategies when constructing investment portfolios. After making
an investment commitment, the investment portfolios are subject to at least
semi-annual reviews conducted by the respective investment team responsible
for each investment.
Innovation. Investment Solutions professionals seek to leverage the intellectual
capital throughout the firm to identify emerging trends, market anomalies and
new investment technologies to facilitate the formation of new strategies, as
well as to set the direction for exiting strategies. This market intelligence
provides them with an additional feedback channel for the development of new
investment products.
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