The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Harvey Schwartz: Let me just comment on the broader nature of our CLO business. So the team has done actually an excellent job. We have an over 20-year history here in managing that business. We’re quite proud of the fact that the team has taken the mantle of largest in the world. Our expectation has been implied by our comments is that we think we’ve been in a very benign credit environment and would expect credit to deteriorate on average from here. Having said that, from the standpoint of putting capital to work, I think it’s a fantastic time to be putting capital to work. If you look at default rates, over the past couple of years, and even today, they’re running low relative to average points in history. And so our full expectation is that credit would be — that credit defaults across the industry whether it’s in banking, private markets, et cetera, that you’re going to see this pick up, particularly as you come into refinancing walls and later ’24, ’25 and ’26 as long as rates stay high in markets, stay where they are, which again is our expectation.

So the team is doing a really — very, very good job of managing this. To give you a little detail strategically about how we’re thinking about it. We’re in the process right now investing in the business. We have a fund that’s in the process of being raised, should close end of November, December, which will be a captive equity fund, which will help really support the business through growth. In terms of any specific triggers or anything like that, why don’t we just take that offline, and then we’ll have Dan follow up with you on those level of details.

Daniel Harris: I’m happy to do so. Craig, I’ll give you a call.

Operator: Our next question comes from Ken Worthington with JPMorgan.

Ken Worthington: As we think about fundraising and energy, NGP 13 seems to have had a strong start and the performance of prior vintages seems to be quite good. I think NGP 12 was a smaller fund, could 13 be a record-sized natural resource fund for Carlyle? And then you had good realizations in energy this past quarter. How does the pipeline look for energy realizations as we look out over the next few quarters?

Harvey Schwartz: So I think the teams have done an excellent job. Our Europe-based team, I think, in particular, has done an excellent job in terms of monetizations and the opportunity set. This area, when you look across our entire complex of energy, infrastructure, renewables, I really think we have sort of a unique team and sort of our capability set. So I think broadly speaking, this is an opportunity for growth. I’m not going to get into specifics about particular monetization because obviously that’s subject to market environment. But I can tell you, we feel quite confident with the team and their performance, and they continue to do an excellent job. So it’s too difficult for me to point specifically to individual asset monetizations, but the pipeline feels pretty good.

I think more importantly, the breadth of the team. And when we think about the opportunity set and trends over the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years, we feel really, really well positioned. And I think you could broadly discuss this in terms of energy transition and climate. I think we have some very talented folks on the ground.

Operator: Next question comes from Glenn Schorr with Evercore ISI.

Glenn Schorr: So I appreciate — I think you dangled some optimistic comments about some products being developed in both insurance and private wealth. And you gave us some — a lot to chew on in terms of all your dry powder and seeking investments. So my question is just more strategic. Do the individual businesses have plans that it targets goals that they’re working on? And the question is, when do we outsiders get a glimpse of you bringing that all together and how to think about the next couple of years? I appreciate that you — you came in midstream in this, Harvey, but it’s been a long wait for investors.