The Carlyle Group notably got its name from a New York hotel the founders were fond of. Like hotels, private equity groups have checkout times. Late Sunday night, Carlyle announced that its chief executive, Kewsong Lee, would leave his post immediately. His employment contract ran through to the end of 2022. He and the board could not agree to an extension.
Lee has worked to remake the group. Carlyle was among the US buyout pioneers which listed their shares about a decade ago. It has sometimes been seen as a laggard, too tied to its leveraged buyout roots. But its assets under management of $376bn are almost double the figure at the end of 2017.
More importantly, Carlyle has pushed into credit investing, including the kind that supports insurers. It has less dependence on volatile if lucrative carried interest and better support from recurring management fees. Public market investors prefer this — and the abolition of supervoting shares.