Private equity firm The Carlyle Group has raised $300 million (€220 million) by floating a specialist debt fund on Amsterdam’s Euronext exchange, having earlier postponed the float because of difficult market conditions.
Carlyle said in May that it was planning a Euronext float for Carlyle Capital Corporation, a Guernsey-headquartered debt fund, but later decided to first postpone and then reduce the size of the float because of difficulties in the US sub-prime mortgage sector.
However, the vehicle finally completed its flotation yesterday, raising total of $300 million after selling 15.9 million new shares at $19 each. Last week the firm cut the offer price, which was originally intended to be somewhere between $20 and $22, and reduced its target from $415 million to $300 million.
After the decision was taken to postpone the float, a Carlyle spokesman said that although the fund would be invested in high-grade residential mortgage-backed securities – particularly those issued by US government-backed mortgage finance houses Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – CCC was confronting “headwinds” in the debt and credit markets, due to volatility in the sub-prime lending market.
Carlyle has already raised $600 million for the fund through a private placement
Shares in CCC opened up at $20, but slipped down again in the first day of trading to close at $19.10.
Private equity and hedge fund managers have now raised €10.8 billion on Euronext in the last 18 months, thanks to offerings from the likes of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Boussard & Gauvaudan, Volta Finance and Tetragon.
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