The private equity heavyweight, the Carlyle Group, which had raised a $436 million fund - Carlyle Mezzanine Partners I - for mezzanine investments in 2006, has recently raised its second fund – CMP II - of $553 million in equity commitments.

With strong support from its current LP base – including insurance companies, state pension plans, university bequests and high net-worth individuals – CMP II will pony up between $15 million and $50 million per deal. The essentially US-focused fund can also spend up to 25 percent of the fund outside the US, on an opportunistic basis.
The practically global Carlyle Group, with $91.5 billion of assets, was steadfast with 66 diverse-sector funds leveraged across six continents, in 2008. Since 1987, Carlyle has invested $52.7 billion of equity in 866 transactions for a nearly $225.8 billion total purchase price.

The extensive base of Carlyle’s industry acquaintance and management links endow CMP with a value-added competitive advantage in dealings with equity backers and senior management panels.

Talking about the recent funding, CMP Co-Head Leo A. Helmers said: “We are delighted to raise this new fund as the mezzanine asset class experiences strong growth in response to the significant supply-demand imbalance in today’s credit markets. The lack of debt financing alternatives in the market provides CMP an opportunity to get very high risk-adjusted returns in its mezzanine portfolio.”