Carlyle to Exceed $100 Billion Fundraising Goal, Co-CEO Says

(Bloomberg) -- Carlyle Group LP expects to exceed its $100 billion fundraising goal by year-end as investors clamor for private equity investments.

The Washington-based private equity firm will likely have raised about $110 billion, co-Chief Executive Officer Glenn Youngkin said Tuesday at the Morgan Stanley Financials Conference in New York. Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein set the multi-year goal in 2016.

“Our investors are shifting, truly shifting, allocations away from lesser performing areas into private capital,” Youngkin said. “Therefore, we see growth coming from both raising bigger and larger funds.”

When it comes to the firm’s portfolio, Youngkin noted that while growth has slowed “it’s still growing at a solid clip.”

“That underpins our view that the economy around the world” isn’t stalling, he said. “Couple that with very low interest rates, and an enormous amount of liquidity in the world today, and we conclude that this low growth, low interest rate, high-valuation environment has a prospect of continuing for quite a while.”

Carlyle, along with its peers, has been benefiting from a robust fundraising environment. The firm brought in $6.9 billion in the three months ended March 31, according the conference presentation.

Youngkin took the helm of Carlyle with Kewsong Lee from co-founders David Rubenstein and Bill Conway more than a year ago. The co-heads have been bullish on China, with Youngkin saying in April that he expects a trade deal between the nation and the U.S. by summer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Melissa Karsh in New York at mkarsh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Mirabella at amirabella@bloomberg.net, Vincent Bielski

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