Carlyle Group Inc. posted third-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street estimates as profits from asset sales helped offset a decline in fee-related earnings. Still, the firm's shares fell as much as 8.1% to $39.27, the most since October 2025. Distributable earnings rose 17% from a year earlier to $432.5 million, or $1.12 a share on an after-tax basis, Carlyle said in a statement Thursday.
That beat the 98-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Executives said on a call with analysts that they see momentum for the firm's fundraising and asset sales as it finishes out the year. They forecast $6 billion of exits starting in the fourth quarter, with at least $20 billion of fresh capital raised during the period, Chief Financial Officer Justin Plouffe said.
Carlyle anticipates $60 billion of inflows for the year, or more than 10% above last year's level, he said. The firm has remained cautious on lending to artificial intelligence and data centers due to uncertainties around collateral and deal structures. But as the industry gets more answers to these questions, Carlyle sees opportunities emerging and better returns for investors, Chief Executive Officer Harvey Schwartz said.
Carlyle, which returned $8.8 billion to investors during the period, generated $99.8 million of realized net performance revenues -- the share of carried interest flowing to shareholders -- a more than five-fold increase from a year earlier. Portfolio companies that Carlyle sold during the quarter include scientific-equipment makers Rigaku Holdings Corp. and Tescan Group. Fee-related earnings, meanwhile, fell 6.2% to $292.6 million because the deal exits left the firm with fewer fee-generating assets.
Executives reaffirmed on the earnings call that it is broadly on track to hit its goal of mid-single-digit growth on fee-related earnings this year. Carlyle ended the quarter with $479 billion of assets under management, a 1% increase from a year earlier. Higher interest rates weighed on some insurance-related credit assets.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing