The Carlyle Group sold Titan Acquistion to another private equity underwriter (PEU).
Titan Acquisition Holdings was formed in 2019 through the combination of Vigor Industrial and MHI Holdings.
Vigor's website had the press release while MHI's did not. Carlyle offloaded Titan to "an affiliate of Lone Star Funds."
Lone Star, founded by John Grayken, is a leading private equity firm advising funds that invest globally in real estate, equity, credit, and other financial assets. Since the establishment of its first fund in 1995, Lone Star has organized 22 private equity funds with aggregate capital commitments totaling approximately $86 billion.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed. A potential price of $2 billion was floated in January. Carlyle cut its teeth on defense stocks and it likes to monetize affiliates while asset prices are high.
Carlyle bought a majority stake in Anthesis, a European ESG consulting firm. The deal values the company at roughly $500 million. Carlyle executives stated a number of affiliates already use Anthesis and they plan to have others engage the consultancy.
Former Carlyle co-CEO and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin went from ESG proponent to ESG critic. Carlyle's 2020 Impact Review stated:
Glenn was full on ESG at Carlyle.Leadership and learning go hand-in-hand, and our portfolio companies continue to lead on ESG issues by learning from each other on these important topics. Our portfolio companies are frequently at the forefront of specific ESG innovations – from how they are managing ESG issues themselves to how they are developing products and services that could help other portfolio companies capitalize on ESG risk management and value creation opportunities.
These innovations can be leveraged across our companies – something we actively work to facilitate. In December Carlyle hosted its annual Sustainability Workshop for our portfolio companies, welcoming participants from 15 different portfolio companies for a day of discussion, information sharing, and problem solving on pressing ESG topics.
Our Co-CEO Glenn Youngkin kicked off the day by highlighting the rising importance of ESG themes such as climate change and diversity and inclusion in his conversions with our global LPs...
The Carlyle Group’s dedicated ESG team is responsible for developing and updating Carlyle’s approach to ESG issues, in conjunction with senior executives across the firm. Any material updates or changes to Carlyle’s approach to ESG are reviewed and approved by Carlyle’s Co-CEOs.
The Carlyle Group’s Board of Directors has formal oversight for the firm’s approach to ESG. It receives routine updates on the firm’s approach to ESG issues, and annually reviews the firm’s ESG report.
Red Team Governor Youngkin changed his stance. Forbers reported in March:
If Youngkin can convince the General Assembly that ESG is harmful to state investments and the business sector, bipartisan anti-ESG legislation may be possible in some form.
Are Anthesis consultants needed to steer ESG firms through anti-ESG environments? I sensed Glenn would steer state business to Carlyle and their numerous affiliates. I didn't expect it to come from a political flip-flop.
This round has defense out and ESG in. What will the next PEU tea leaf reading show?
Heads PEUs win, tails they also win. It's all ensured by politicians Red and Blue who love PEU, and increasingly more are one.
Update 7-2-23: PEU Palatine claims is made 6 times its investment in Anthesis and will become a minority investor under Carlyle. It's about generating massive "returns with a purpose." Kind of the antithesis of doing good, doing good for greed. It's now called "delivering positive equity."
Update 7-7-23: Carlyle released its 2023 ESG report titled "The EBITDA of ESG." Obscene profits can be made anywhere by the politically connected.
