Fundraising

Carlyle raises $365.7m for second power fund

The alternative asset manager is also nearing a final close on its first international energy fund, which the firm expects will hit its $2.5 billion hard cap “in the near future”.

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Washington, DC-based the Carlyle Group (Carlyle) has raised $365.7 million for Carlyle Power Partners II, its second fund focusing on the North American power sector, according to a filing the firm submitted on Monday to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The firm has not previously disclosed the amount it is targeting for its second power fund, nor did it indicate the target in the SEC filing.

During the fourth-quarter 2014 earnings call held earlier this month, Carlyle’s co-chief executive officer David Rubenstein said: “During 2014, we made meaningful progress towards closing our fourth European buyout fund, our third European technology fund, our third Japanese buyout fund, our seventh US real estate fund, and our second US power fund.”

The firm declined to comment further through a spokesperson.

Carlyle has already begun deploying capital from Carlyle Power Partners II. Last December, it used the fund as well as Carlyle Power Opportunities Capital Partners LP to fund the acquisition of a 75.05 percent stake in Southeast PowerGen, a portfolio of six natural gas-fired power plants in the state of Georgia, from ArcLight Capital Partners and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, for an undisclosed amount.

During the same conference call, Rubenstein said that the firm had “all but officially closed” Carlyle International Energy Partners. “Its final close is likely to occur in the near future, and the fund is then expected to be at the cap level of $2.5 billion,” he said, referring to the firm’s first international energy fund.

Carlyle International Energy Partners will invest in oil and gas exploration and production, midstream, oilfield services and refining and marketing in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Its portfolio so far includes Varo Energy, an oil and gas platform containing refining, marketing and storage businesses, and Discover Exploration, a London-based energy company.

Carlyle ended 2014 with $194.5 billion in assets under management (AUM), up three percent from 2013’s year-end number and the firm’s highest year-end AUM level, Rubenstein noted.