Asset manager Carlyle Group posted a rise in fourth-quarter profit on Friday, helped by income from deals at its private-equity arm and solid gains across its credit and secondaries businesses.
Distributable earnings, or profit that can be returned to shareholders, rose 13.7% over the year earlier to $436 million, or $1.01 per share.
"2025 was a record year for Carlyle, and we significantly outperformed the targets we set at the beginning of the year," CEO Harvey Schwartz said in a statement.
Cashing in on assets at its private-equity unit and global credit business pushed the company's net realized performance revenue up to $123 million in the quarter.
Carlyle also pointed to so-called exit activity at its U.S. buyout fund, two European technology funds and an opportunistic credit fund.
Mergers and acquisitions rebounded late last year after a long downturn as lower interest rates made it cheaper to finance deals and worries over the effects of policies introduced by U.S. President Donald Trump began to ease.
Fee-related earnings increased 1% to $290 million. Carlyle sold its stake in U.S. chip startup Ampere and British fund network Calastone in 2025. It took medical supplies company Medline public in December.
The company raised $53.7 billion in fresh capital in fiscal 2025, bringing its total assets under management to $477 billion, 8% higher than a year ago.
Inflows were mainly focused into its secondaries business, Carlyle AlpInvest, which trades in a growing market for second-hand private-equity stakes, and its credit funds. Carlyle's shares have lost around 6% so far in 2026 amid a global selloff, but are still up more than 5% over the past year.
