The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager that invests across a range of strategies including private equity, real assets (such as real estate and infrastructure), global credit, and investment solutions. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., Carlyle raises and manages investment funds that acquire, operate and exit companies and assets on behalf of institutional and private investors. The firm is publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange and operates as an asset manager and investment advisor rather than as an operating company.
Carlyle’s core activities include sourcing and executing private equity buyouts and growth investments, originating and managing credit and financing solutions, and acquiring and operating real asset portfolios. Its investment solutions business offers fund-of-funds, co-investments and tailored account strategies designed for institutional investors. The firm’s services cover the full investment lifecycle: fundraising, due diligence and underwriting, active portfolio management, operational improvement of portfolio companies, and eventual realization through strategic sale or public offering.
Clients for Carlyle’s funds and advisory services typically include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, family offices and other institutional and high-net-worth investors. Carlyle operates globally with a presence across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, deploying capital in both developed and emerging markets and maintaining regional investment teams to source and manage deals.
The firm was co-founded by David M. Rubenstein, William E. Conway Jr. and Daniel A. D’Aniello, and has grown from a small private equity partnership into one of the larger global alternative asset managers. Carlyle is governed by an executive leadership team and a board of directors and continues to evolve its strategies and product offerings to meet shifting investor demand across credit, real assets and private markets.