Carlyle Group Gears Up for IPO

Reuters is reporting that, in the next month, private equity firm Carlyle Group will select banks to underwrite its planned initial public offering. Carlyle hopes to file its IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the third quarter, according to sources familiar with the situation. Carlyle has declined to comment.

When the IPO goes through, Carlyle will join publicly traded competitors Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), KKR (NYSE: KKR) and Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO).

If Carlyle does file for an IPO in the third quarter, it could begin trading sometime between Labor Day and the December holiday season. If it misses that window, it may wait until early 2012, after it finalizes its full-year 2011 financial statements.

Carlyle was founded in 1987 and has assets under management of more than $106.7 billion. It has invested in such companies as Dunkin Brands, Alliance Boots and Freescale Semiconductor. In January, it announced a deal to buy Dutch-based private equity fund AlpInvest Partners, and in February hired Nasdaq OMX (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Chief Financial Officer Adena Friedman as its CFO.