Carlyle Group - History

History

History of private equity
and venture capital

Early history
(Origins of modern private equity)

The 1980s
(LBO boom)

The 1990s
(LBO bust and the VC bubble)

The 2000s
(Dot-com bubble to the credit crunch)

Carlyle was founded in 1987 by five Washington executives: William E. Conway, Jr., Stephen L. Norris, David M. Rubenstein, Daniel A. D'Aniello and Greg Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum left in 1987; Norris left in 1995. The three remaining founders are reported to collectively own around a 50% interest in the group's general partnership. The rest of Carlyle is owned by a group of individuals, most of whom serve as managing directors, and by two institutional investors.

In 2001, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) acquired a 5.5% holding in Carlyle's management company for $175 million. The investment was valued at approximately $1 billion by 2007 at the height of the 2000s buyout boom.

Lou Gerstner, former chairman and CEO of IBM and Nabisco, was appointed chairman of Carlyle in January 2003 and served in that position through October 2008. Gerstner remains with Carlyle as a senior advisor.

In September 2007, Mubadala Development Company, an investment vehicle for the government of Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, purchased a 7.5% stake for $1.35 billion.

In November 2008, The Carlyle Group was named Private Equity firm of the year in the U.S. at the Financial Times-Mergermarket 2008 M&A Awards.

In 2000, Carlyle entered into a joint venture with Riverstone Holdings, an energy and power focused private equity firm founded by former Goldman Sachs investment bankers. In March 2009, New York State and federal authorities began an investigation into payments made by Carlyle and Riverstone to placement agents allegedly made in exchange for investments from the New York State Common Retirement System, the state's pension fund. It was alleged that these payments were in fact bribes or kickbacks, made to pension officials who have been under investigation by New York State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo. In May 2009, Carlyle agreed to pay $20 million in a settlement with Cuomo and accepted changes to its fundraising practices.

In October 2012, Carlyle Group sold its remaining stake 3.7% stake in Housing Development Finance Corporation for a fee of around $841 million.

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