While the rest of the world frets over the failure of Lehman Brothers and the fire sale of Merrill Lynch, corporate vultures at The Carlyle Group's $1.5 billion distressed fund circle for prospects.
Today, President Bush and candidate John McCain talked about the strong fundamentals of the U.S. economy. Carlyle executives aren't so sure.
The group believes the current economic slowdown is still in its early days, even if the financial system recovers quite quickly. "It creates a lot of opportunity for us," says Mr Raymond Whiteman, co-head of Carlyle Strategic Partners fund. "When corporate slowdown collides with corporate profit pressure it creates defaults, corporate bankruptcies and restructuring."
"We are deep value investors, we are patient and we think it is going to get worse before it gets better," says Mr Whiteman. "We are well positioned to make great investments."
Today, President Bush and candidate John McCain talked about the strong fundamentals of the U.S. economy. Carlyle executives aren't so sure.
The group believes the current economic slowdown is still in its early days, even if the financial system recovers quite quickly. "It creates a lot of opportunity for us," says Mr Raymond Whiteman, co-head of Carlyle Strategic Partners fund. "When corporate slowdown collides with corporate profit pressure it creates defaults, corporate bankruptcies and restructuring."
"We are deep value investors, we are patient and we think it is going to get worse before it gets better," says Mr Whiteman. "We are well positioned to make great investments."
