The Carlyle Group may slow down the pace of its independent public offering, according to peHUB.
Saying markets are “not friendly,” one of The Carlyle Group’s co-founders said that the firm may actually not go through with its planned initial public offering after all.How will Carlyle's DBD co-founders monetize their holdings if there's no IPO? It will be harder to shoot up the billionaires list without a Carlyle Group public offering.
“We’re in no hurry,” said Daniel D’Aniello, one of Carlyle’s three co-founders, who was speaking Tuesday at the Quebec City Conference in Canada. “We’ve been around for 25 years,” he said, saying the firm “might stay private for another 25 years.”
As for peHUB, they might want to use the private equity underwriter (PEU) Carlyle Group logo, instead of the executive recruiter Carlyle Group Ltd. logo. The Ltd. version filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
Private equity Carlyle had its own spate of bankruptcies, beginning six months before the fall of Lehman Brothers. Ironically, PEU Carlyle just hired Lehman's former Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Randall Whitestone.
At Lehman Brothers Whitesone was the Global Head of Media Relations for the Investment Management and Mortgage Capital divisions, as well as chief editor of the firm’s annual report.Just what Carlyle needs, the man who sold the benefits of junk mortgage securitization and wrote Lehman's fictional annual report. There's no way the firm described in SEC filings should have gone down overnight.
The Fall 2008 financial implosion was a team effort between big banks and shadow bankers like Carlyle. But why would The Carlyle Group hire Lehman's former mouthpiece? Whitestone worked for George Herbert Walker, cousin of the Bush boys, one a former U.S. President and the other ex-Florida Governor.
With a bipartisan stable of political heavyweights, Carlyle tilts blue or red as times require. Whitestone can pick up the phone and access financial and political heavyweights, as well as business reporting firms, former employers. The DBD's need help polishing their IPO if they stand to enjoy their monetization and eventual retirement.
For an IPO to happen, there must be investor support. Investment banks would hate to lose underwriting fees. Might D'Aniello be teasing interest? Did Randall Whitestone contribute to a Carlyle IPO sales strategy? If so, he's a cagey guy. Funny, that's where I envisioned Lehman's executives and Carlyle's ethically challenged, behind bars. Instead they're free and remaking the world in their PEU image.
Update 10-30-11: Carlyle is behind Blackstone in more ways than IPO valuation. Carlyle has only filed its initial S-1. By this time Blackstone filed two amended S-1s on its way to a total of ten.
