CG Carlyle Group Inc

By Maria Armental 

Carlyle Group Inc. swung to a profit in the first quarter, as the value of its investments rose faster than the broader market.

The Washington, D.C., firm reported a first-quarter profit of $869.3 million, or $2.41 a share, compared with a loss of $612 million, or $1.76 a share in the first quarter of 2020. The roughly $1.5 billion profit improvement, the firm said, reflected the portfolio appreciation from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

The firm's private-equity portfolio appreciated by about 15% during the period, compared with a 5.8% gain by the S&P 500.

"Excellent fund performance this quarter drove a record net accrued carry balance and we have strong momentum thanks to well-positioned investment portfolios and robust deal activity across our global platform," Carlyle Chief Executive Kewsong Lee said in a statement.

Similarly, Blackstone Group Inc., which swung to a record quarterly profit, saw the value of its private-equity portfolio rise by 15.3% in the first quarter as its strategy of investing in fast-growing companies paid off.

Mr. Lee, who has focused on cleaning up Carlyle's problem areas and closing the gap with competitors, has set a goal of raising more than $130 billion in fresh capital by 2024.

Carlyle said assets under management reached $260 billion as of March 31, up 6% from the previous quarter and 20% from the comparable period a year earlier. Carlyle raised about $7.8 billion in new capital and invested about $5.5 billion during the quarter.

Carlyle's distributable earnings, or the money that could be given back to shareholders, rose to $214.9 million, or 58 cents a share, from $175 million, or 48 cents a share, a year earlier.

Net accrued performance revenues were $3.17 billion, up about 36% from the previous quarter, driven by corporate private equity.

Carlyle's fee-related earnings for the quarter edged up to $129 million. Adjusting for a $30 million litigation cost recovery in the year-ago quarter, fee-related earnings rose about 30%.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2021 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)

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