By Joshua Franklin
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alternative asset manager Carlyle Group LP (O:CG) on Wednesday missed estimates for earnings per unit for the third quarter, as the value of its private equity investments rose less than that one of its key rivals.
Carlyle, which owns assets such as British premium car service Addison Lee and U.S. entertainment services provider Apex Parks Group, said quarterly economic net income per unit came in at 25 cents. That missed analysts' expectations for 51 cents, according to Refinitiv data, and compared with 56 cents a year earlier.
Economic net income reflects the mark-to-market valuation gains or losses on Carlyle's portfolio and is a key earnings metric for many U.S. private equity firms.
Carlyle's corporate private equity funds, from which it earns performance fees, increased in value by 1 percent in the three months to end-September. Rival Blackstone Group LP (N:BX) reported a rise of 7.5 percent in the value of its private equity holdings in the same period.
Despite the earnings miss, Carlyle's assets under management grew to $212.3 billion, with $6 billion raised in the quarter and $26 billion raised so far in 2018. Carlyle has a $30 billion fundraising target for 2018, part of a larger $100 billion fundraising goal.
"During the third quarter, we remained on track or ahead of schedule for many of the goals we laid out for the year and we have good momentum for future growth," Co-Chief Executives Kewsong Lee and Glenn Youngkin said in a statement.
"Global markets are growing increasingly volatile, but we believe Carlyle is well positioned to take advantage of market dislocations and opportunities," the pair added, echoing comments last week by rival KKR & Co Inc (N:KKR).
After-tax distributable earnings (DE) - the actual cash available for paying dividends - fell year on year to $194.7 million from $254.5 million. Peers Blackstone and KKR reported year-on-year rises in after-tax DE.
Carlyle also said it would pay a quarterly distribution of 42 cents per common unit.
