Carlyle’s third-quarter profit tops estimates on pick-up in deals

Nov 5 (Reuters) - Carlyle Group exceeded third-quarter profit expectations on Thursday, as the asset manager monetized more private equity investments and returned cash to investors.

Distributable earnings, which represent the cash used to pay dividends to shareholders, came in at $1.12 per share in the three months ended September 30, topping expectations of $1, according to the estimates compiled by LSEG.

The traditional private equity model of buying and selling companies ⁠has been hampered by rising interest rates in recent years, but Carlyle and some of its peers have accelerated investment exits and returned cash to investors.

Carlyle is well positioned to accelerate growth in the years, CEO Harvey Schwartz said, citing early stages of a strong fundraising cycle and near-record levels of assets yet to start paying fees.

Realized net performance revenue, which reflects its share of profits from investment exits, vaulted to $99.8 million in the quarter from $19.1 million a year earlier.

The big deals that Carlyle closed in the quarter included a 27% stake sale in Japanese X-ray testing tool maker Rigaku and the sale of electron microscopes manufacturer Tescan Group.

Carlyle has returned nearly $100 billion in capital to investors since the start of 2024, Schwartz said.

Assets under management rose 1% to $479 billion in the reported quarter, while uninvested capital rose 5% to $94 billion.

Inflows totaled $10.8 billion in the quarter and were driven by its credit business. The figure was boosted by the first close in Carlyle’s latest opportunistic credit fund and capital raised in its aviation business.

Carlyle deployed $11 billion of capital, led by activity across its credit and private equity businesses. Notable transactions included the acquisitions of Korean home and healthcare appliance rental platform Chung Ho Group and hardware encryption firm Secturion Systems.