I noticed a Carlyle Group executive on Sunday morning news program Fareed Zacharia's GPS. Zacharia spoke with Admiral James Stavridis about Russia's possible invasion of Ukraine. There was no mention of Stavidris' Carlyle connections or feedback from the people of Afghanistan, Libya or Syria on the success of the Admiral's actions in their countries.
As no one declares conflicts of interest these days I researched ways Stavridis is currently profiting from America's government-corporate monstrosity.
Stavridis is a private equity underwriter (PEU) for The Carlyle Group, Whitefield Capital and DC Capital (Board of Advisors).
DC Capital appears to be the Red Team's PEU. It is similar to the Blue Team's Pine Island Capital which produced President Biden's top two cabinet members, Anthony Blinken and General Lloyd Austin.
Admiral Stavridis is also a director for a number of Neuberger Berman investment funds. Neuberger's website states the company "manages a range of equity, fixed income, private equity and hedge fund strategies."
Stavridis sits on the board of Fortinet and American Water Works. Fortinet pays him $55,000 a year and gave him $245,000 in restricted stock. American Water Works paid the Admiral nearly $240,000 in director compensation in 2020. He currently holds 3.000 shares of American Water Works stock, valued at over $500,000. His board bio revealed more directorships.
McLarty is another familiar Carlyle Group name. T.F. "Mac" McLarty was President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff. McLarty Associates is a PEU affiliate of Madison Dearborn Partners and will soon be part-owned by HPS Investment Partners, another PEU..
Michael Baker International is an affiliate of DC Capital. It is part of DC Capital's first fund.
White Field Capital's website described the firm as "a U.S. based private equity firm with offices in Charlotte and Puerto Rico. We are focused on investing and partnering with growing businesses valued at up to $20 million."
Vigor/MHI Shipyard is a Carlyle investment alongside Stellex Capital. They combined assets in 2019.
Private equity companies The Carlyle Group and Stellex Capital Management have agreed to merge two American shipyard firms, Oregon-based Vigor Industrial and Norfolk-based MHI Holdings.
Might there be a naval component to any conflict between Ukraine and Russia? What if the U.S. enters the fray? The United States has a naval presence in the Black Sea.
Fareed has a history of going easy on Carlyle Group executives and missed Bono's PEU connections.
Stavridis clearly qualifies as a greed and leverage boy, one with considerable political influence and a track record of widespread human misery in at least three countries. Will it become four?
Update 12-7-21: The Admiral was back on CNN tonight.
Update 12-26-21: Tom's Dispatch lamented the litany of PEU generals like KKR's David Petraeus but missed Lloyd Austin's PEU pedigree in their piece. No mention of Carlyle's James Stavridis.
Update 1-5-23: Carlyle is ready to cash in on Titan-Vigor-MHI for roughly $2 billion.
Update 2-22-23: Carlyle may be shopping its stake in Black Sea:
...plans by BSOG's investor Carlyle to potentially sell the company were "normal" for an equity firm after it has finished building the project.
It doesn't want to pay increased energy taxes like any good PEU.
Update 4-3-23: Responsible Statecraft reported:
A prominent regular columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, Ret. Adm. James Stavridis, has published multiple columns over the past year urging greater U.S. investments in cybersecurity and cyber-defenses while failing to disclose to readers potential conflicts of interest due to work in the defense industry.
Declaring financial conflicts of interest is so passe in our PEU world....
Update 6-29-23: Carlyle sold
Titan-Vigor-MHI to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds for an undisclosed
amount. A 6-15-23 press release on the closing is on Vigor's website but not on MHI's.
