The Carlyle Group announced the closure of Carlyle Asia Partners III at $2.55 billion, nearly $1 billion shy of the target. Many private equity underwriters (PEU's) would hold the fund open. After three years of hard sales calls, but Carlyle is ready to put those billions to work. An official stated:
“We believe that 2010 is shaping up to be a very good year to make investments in Asia as the region bounces back strongly from the global economic crises.”
Hedge fund manager Jim Chanos predicts the Chinese economic bubble, "on a treadmill to hell," will end badly. Carlyle wants to ride the expansion, magically exiting before any meltdown. That didn't happen in the U.S. in fall 2008, when Lehman Brothers imploded. PEU's made billions in capital calls against state pension funds.
It's double down time in the world's economic gambling parlor. C'mon, 30% annual returns, baby! Who cares whose back they come on?
