Global private equity firm the Carlyle Group has closed its third dedicated European buyout fund, Carlyle Europe Partners III, at USD7bn.
Global private equity firm the Carlyle Group has closed its third dedicated European buyout fund, Carlyle Europe Partners III, at USD7bn. Its investments will be focused on the firm’s core sectors of aerospace, automotive ands transportation, building materials, chemicals, consumer and retail, energy and power, healthcare, industrial, business services, and telecommunications and media.
Since operations began in Europe in 1997 with the opening of offices in Paris and Munich, Carlyle has raised two European funds, Carlyle Europe Partners, a EUR1bn fund closed in 1998, and Carlyle Europe Partners II, a EUR1.8bn fund closed in 2005. Carlyle has invested EUR3.7bn of equity in 36 leveraged buy-out transactions in Europe and returned EUR7.2bn to investors.
Carlyle Europe’s buyout team consists of 37 investment professionals with offices in London, Paris, Munich, Barcelona and Milan. Notable transactions include Avio, AZ Electronic Materials, Casema, Com Hem, Ensus, Firth Rixson, Hertz, Honsel, HT Troplast, Le Figaro, Qinetiq, Medimedia, Petroplus, Saprogal, and Terreal.
At the end of June, Carlyle had USD24.7bn dedicated to leveraged buy-outs worldwide, managed 55 active funds with USD75.6bn of commitments at the end of August, and has a portfolio of more than 200 companies.
‘We are delighted that Carlyle’s 10-year track record of value creation and superior returns has given investors such confidence in the Europe buyout team, enabling us to raise successfully a third dedicated fund,’ says Jean Pierre Millet, Carlyle Europe’s chief investment officer for buyouts.
‘The fact that CEP III is substantially larger than CEP II demonstrates the premium that investors place on Carlyle’s unique combination of truly local deal professionals and global sector expertise.’
Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein says: ‘The European market is maturing and the investment environment has become more challenging. However, there remain significant opportunities across the continent, and we will continue to apply our conservative philosophy and disciplined investment process in executing deals.
‘Our focus on operational improvement and growing value in companies has delivered extraordinary returns for our investors through good times and bad. We look forward to leveraging the firepower of our third European fund to the benefit of our investors across the world.
