Carlyle hits $4.6bn hard-cap for credit fund

Carlyle, the Washington DC-headquartered fund manager, has announced a final close of its Carlyle Credit Opportunities Fund II on $4.6 billion. The fundraising beats a $3.5 billion target and is worth a total of $6.0 billion, including available leverage.

CCOF I, the predecessor fund, closed on $2.4 billion in 2019 and is fully deployed with investments of $3.4 billion in 37 deals. At the end of last year, the fund was generating a net internal rate of return of approximately 15 percent according to Carlyle.

CCOF II has already committed $3.8 billion, or more than two-thirds of available capital, in 22 deals in North America and Europe. Target industries include media and entertainment, residential real estate and services, software and technology, financial and business services, and aerospace.

The fund provides capital solutions for companies seeking an alternative to traditional capital markets and private equity. Borrowers are typically in the upper mid-market and include family and entrepreneur-owned businesses, sponsor-backed companies and asset-backed borrowers.

“Carlyle’s Credit Opportunities strategy is meeting a growing need for flexible, solutions-oriented capital from companies seeking to benefit from opportunities in a rapidly changing economic environment,” said Alex Popov, head of illiquid credit strategies at Carlyle.

The fundraising is part of Carlyle’s push to scale up its global credit platform, which has been the fastest growing segment of the firm over the last four years. Since the start of this year, the platform has signed a new advisory agreement with insurer Fortitude Re, acquired a portfolio of collateralised loan obligation assets from CBAM Partners, and acquired a net lease real estate portfolio from iStar.