The Carlyle Group (Nasdaq: CG) has closed its fourth collateralized loan obligation (CLO) of 2016 with nearly $507 million in capital. The fund, Carlyle GMS CLO 2016-4, was arranged by Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and will invest predominantly in senior secured loans. The new CLO is nearly $104 million more than firm’s first fund of 2016, Carlyle GMS CLO 2016-1, that closed in April 2016. The Carlyle GMS CLO 2016-1 was raised to primarily target senior secured bank loans. With the closing of the new fund, Carlyle’s CLO business now has approximately $18.8 billion in assets under management. The PE firm also raised CLOs in 2015 and in 2014. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Carlyle Group is a global asset management firm with offices across North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia. The firm has nearly $169 billion in assets under management and recently purchased Atotech, the specialty chemicals unit of French oil company Total SA, for $3.2 billion despite volatile oil prices. The closing of the new CLO isn’t the only fund raising the firm has done in 2016. In November, the firm raised a $2.8 billion credit fund to further back its confidence in the energy sector. Loan funds, an area that is not yet as crowded as it is among private equity firms, are very popular in 2016. Recently, Monroe Capital LLC closed a $800 million credit fund; Chicago-based NXT Capital LLC closed its fourth debt fund at $900 million; and Audax Group raised nearly $1.2 billion in capital for the firm’s fourth mezzanine fund.
