Over four years and one financial crisis later, anticipation is building for an IPO filing from The Carlyle Group, the Washington DC-based rival of Blackstone. I’m guessing their returns have been equally strong, after factoring in the boom-and-bust years. But why wait for the S-1 to take the measure of the firm’s track record? (UPDATE: You no longer have to wait for top-line returns. Get the S-1 here, which shows Carlyle Group generated a gross IRR on its corporate private equity portfolio of 27 percent, and a net IRR of 19 percent, through June 30. Read on for returns of specific funds, which you won’t find in the S-1.)
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which took a 5.5 percent stake in Carlyle Group a decade ago, has been investing with the firm since at least 1996. That year the pension fund took a flyer on Carlyle Partners II LP and, thanks to its 25.3% net IRR, watched an $80 million investment turn into more than $200 million between cash out and remaining value.
All told as of year-end CalPERS had invested an estimated $1.2 billion through 15 Carlyle funds whose results the pension fund considered mature enough to be meaningful (including two Carlyle/Riverstone energy funds, and not counting any funds sold), based on our analysis of CalPERS return data. Those 15, vintages years 1996 to 2005, have generated more than $2.2 billion in value, between cash back and remaining value. The average net IRR for the pack is 21.2% (not weighted for fund size) and range from -0.6% for the 2001 Carlyle Venture Partners II LP to 55.8% for the 2003 Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy & Power II. The slideshow below takes you through the 15, in order of performance, worst to best. All data comes from CalPERS.
David M. Toll is editor-in-charge of Buyouts Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @davidmtoll. Follow @Buyouts.
[slideshow]
[slide title=”No. 15 – Carlyle Venture Partners II LP”]
Vintage Year: 2001
Net IRR: -0.6%
Investment Multiple: 1.0x
Capital Invested:$49.9M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $48.6M
[slide title=”No. 14 – Carlyle Partners IV LP”]
Vintage Year: 2005
Net IRR: 8.7%
Investment Multiple: 1.4x
Capital Invested:$279.8M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $391.4M
[slide title=”No. 13 – Carlyle High Yield Partners IV LP”]
Vintage Year: 2002
Net IRR: 13.3%
Investment Multiple: 1.5x
Capital Invested:$5.0M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $7.5M
[slide title=”No. 12 – Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy & Power III”]
Vintage Year: 2005
Net IRR: 15.3%
Investment Multiple: 1.6x
Capital Invested:$232.2M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $372.3M
[slide title=”No. 11 – Carlyle Europe Realty Partners LP”]
Vintage Year: 2002
Net IRR: 16.1%
Investment Multiple: 1.8x
Capital Invested:$30.9M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $56.0M
[slide title=”No. 10 – Carlyle Asia Venture Partners II LP”]
Vintage Year: 2001
Net IRR: 17.1%
Investment Multiple: 1.9x
Capital Invested:$37.3M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $70.1M
[slide title=”No. 9 – Carlyle Mexico Partners LP”]
Vintage Year: 2005
Net IRR: 17.7%
Investment Multiple: 1.4x
Capital Invested:$21.2M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $29.9M
[slide title=”No. 8 – Carlyle Asia Partners (PV II) LP”]
Vintage Year: 2000
Net IRR: 19.4%
Investment Multiple: 2.7x
Capital Invested:$77.0M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $211.0M
[slide title=”No. 7 – Carlyle Europe Partners II LP”]
Vintage Year: 2003
Net IRR: 22.2%
Investment Multiple: 1.6x
Capital Invested:$63.7M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $103.0M
[slide title=”No. 6 – Carlyle Partners III LP”]
Vintage Year: 2000
Net IRR: 22.6%
Investment Multiple: 2.3x
Capital Invested:$135.4M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $317.7M
[slide title=”No. 5 – Carlyle Strategic Partners I LP”]
Vintage Year: 2004
Net IRR: 22.7%
Investment Multiple: 1.8x
Capital Invested:$33.9M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $59.8M
[slide title=”No. 4 – Carlyle Partners II LP”]
Vintage Year:1996
Net IRR: 25.3%
Investment Multiple: 2.5%
Capital Invested:$80.0M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $203.0M
[slide title=”No. 3 – Carlyle Realty Qualified Partners III LP “]
Vintage Year: 2001
Net IRR: 28.5%
Investment Multiple: 2.0x
Capital Invested:$46.5M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $94.2M
[slide title=”No. 2 – Carlyle Japan Partners I LP”]
Vintage Year: 2001
Net IRR: 34.0%
Investment Multiple: 2.1x
Capital Invested:$24.7M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $51.8M
[slide title=”No. 1 – Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy & Power II”]
Vintage Year: 2003
Net IRR: 55.8%
Investment Multiple: 2.6x
Capital Invested:$69.9M
Cash Out + Remaining Value: $184.9M
[/slideshow]