The Carlyle Group, the global private equity firm, has closed its second mezzanine fund, Carlyle Mezzanine Partners II, on $553 million. Carlyle did not disclose the fund’s target. CMP II is a US-focused fund but can also invest up to 25% of the fund outside the US on an opportunistic basis.
Launched in 2007, the fund has provided mezzanine financing for ARINC Incorporated, a transportation communications and systems engineering services provider; Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., a management and consultancy firm; ConvaTec Inc., a healthcare manufacturer and supplier; Firth Rixson, a provider of forgings and speciality metal products; heating, ventilation and air conditioning products manufacturer Goodman Global; casino operator Harrah’s Entertainment; Hudson Products, a provider of air-cooled heat exchangers; PQ corporation, an inorganic speciality chemicals producer; and civil construction firm Voice Construction.
“We are delighted to raise this new fund as the mezzanine asset class experiences strong growth in response to the significant supply-demand imbalance in today’s credit markets,” says Leo A Helmers, co-head at Carlyle Mezzanine Partners. “The lack of debt financing alternatives in the market provides CMP an opportunity to get very high risk-adjusted returns in its mezzanine portfolio.”
“We continue to invest in leading middle-market companies through a combination of junior debt and minority equity securities in LBOs, recapitalisations and growth financings,” says James C Shevlet, Jr also co-head at CMP. “CMP II has been prudently capitalising on the dislocation in the credit markets in 2008, including financing new LBOs and purchasing mezzanine investments at discounts in the secondary market. We are grateful to our limited partners for the confidence they have placed in us.”
Carlyle’s first mezzanine fund, Carlyle Mezzanine Partners I, closed in 2006 with $436 million in equity commitments.
Established in 2004, CMP has offices in New York and Los Angeles.
D.C.