Yawn... Carlyle Still Considering IPO
Bunch of buzz this morning about an FT report that The Carlyle Group is reconsidering its IPO prospects. Actually, more of the buzz might have to do with Carlyle’s denial when asked for comment by one of my Reuters colleagues. In an emailed statement, a spokesman wrote: “Carlyle has no plans to go public and if we ever do go public, it will be a long way off.” A couple quick thoughts: (1) Carlyle has been tacitly considering going public for at least three years. In fact, I distinctly remember David Rubenstein giving a speech in which he compared mega-LBO partnerships to pre-public investment bank partnerships (and I haven’t seen him speak in a long while). So the idea that Carlyle continues to consider an IPO is about as newsworthy as Generalissimo Francisco Franco still being dead.
