Carlyle Group tallies 6.2% quarterly gain in AUM

The Carlyle Group on Thursday reported $276 billion in assets under management as of June 30, a 6.2% increase from $260 billion at the end of the prior quarter and up 24.7% from $221.4 billion a year ago.

During an earnings call, also Thursday, CEO Kewsong Lee said that the firm's goal was to "think bigger, perform better and move faster."

Timelines for fundraising, capital deployment and exits have been sped up, in part due to new processes adopted as a result of the pandemic, he said. Some of the new processes, such as how Carlyle executives conduct transactions, would remain in place after the COVID-19 crisis subsides, because they are more efficient, Mr. Lee said in response to an analyst's question.

"We have conviction and can move faster," while still continuing to have "great investment judgment," he said.

For example, the investment periods are compressing, from a five-year time horizon to four years or less in some "high velocity" sectors, he said. "None of this matters if you don't perform well," Mr. Lee added.

Carlyle is also focused on increasing fund sizes from prior funds in each series to boost AUM and fee revenue. Firm executives have set a target of $130 billion or more in new capital raised between 2021 and 2024. The goal is to increase fund sizes by at least 20% from predecessor funds, with several fund series expected to be substantially larger. For example, Carlyle's AlpinVest Co-Investment Fund with $3.5 billion in total capital commitments is 107% larger than its predecessor, and Carlyle's flagship U.S. real estate fund closed in 2017 with $5.5 billion, 31% larger than the prior fund in the series.

Private equity had $150 billion in assets under management as of June 30, up 9% from $137.5 billion as of March 31 and up 78% from $84.3 billion as of June 30, 2020. Carlyle's private equity business also includes real estate and natural resources.

Investment solutions — made up of customized portfolios and its co-investment/secondaries subsidiaries for private equity and real estate — had $65 billion in AUM at the end of the second quarter, up 2.2% from $63.6 billion as of March 31 and up 38.6% from $46.9 billion at the end of the year-earlier quarter.

Global credit had $61 billion in AUM at the end of the second quarter, a 3.7% increase from $58.8 billion as of March 31 and 22% more than its $50 billion in AUM as of June 30, 2020.

GAAP net income was 925 million in the second quarter, compared to $869 million in the first quarter and $145.9 million year over year.