Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Carlyle's Launches Billion Dollar Infrastructure Fund


The next time local, state or federal government wants to add or rehabilitate key U.S. infrastructure, The Carlyle Group stands ready to fill the bill via their new infrastructure division and its $1.15 billion fund. The news reported:

Carlyle Infrastructure Partners will primarily invest in U.S. and Canadian transportation and water infrastructure projects, generally ranging from $100 million to more than $1 billion in enterprise value.

Carlyle Infrastructure Partners was established in March 2006 and has 14 investment professionals in D.C. and New York. The fund will put money into transportation, water and wastewater facilities, including roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, maritime ports, transit projects and other public improvements
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Team co-head Robert Dove said: “US public infrastructure requires $1 trillion in funding over the next five years. The private sector has a role to play, as seen in Europe, and can be a proven means of helping to satisfy such dramatic funding needs. We are grateful to our investors for the confidence they have placed in us and we look forward to expanding the use of public-private partnerships in the US and Canada.”

Get ready for more privatization, for more indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts from Uncle Sam, and record profits for The Carlyle Group, all courtesy of the American (and now Canadian) taxpayer. The pattern is well established in defense, but that's not good enough from the politically connected private equity firm. They want to be a one stop shop for government contracting given the breadth of their portfolio, health care, education, infrastructure, intelligence, homeland security, technology, energy, media, real estate, retail, automotive, and manufacturing.