|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Benyamin Davidsons
Carlyle Group, the global investment firm boasting some$373 billion of assets under its management, has appointed a new Chief Executive Officer.
As reported by the NY Times, nearly seven months after its last CEO stepped down, Carlyle has now announced a permanent replacement. On Monday morning, the company said it has tapped Harvey Schwartz, as the new chief executive. Mr. Schwartz was formerly president and co-operating officer at Goldman Sachs, until he retired in 2018. After being with Goldman for 20 years, Schwartz was sidelined for a CEO position there, with David Solomon chosen to lead as CEO there. No worries, though, now Schwartz gets the opportunity to lead as chieftain at Carlyle Group, the world’s second-largest private equity firm.
Mr. Schwartz, 58, will have his hands full, trying to revive Carlyle, which has over the recent years underperformed its rivals Blackstone, Apollo Global Management and KKR & Co. In the last 12 months, Carlyle’s stock price has dropped roughly 25 percent, compared to a decline of just 8 percent in the S&P 500 over that time. Carlyle’s board expects Mr. Schwartz to cut costs at the company, and to brainstorm new ways for the company to grow, Bloomberg reported.
As per the Post, Schwartz will step into his new leadership role at the private equity giant as of Feb. 15th. Billionaire Bill Conway, a co-founder of the company, has been serving as Carlyle’s interim chief since the former CEO abruptly resigned. Kewsong Lee had stepped down unexpectedly in Aug. 2022, following a clash with the co-founders at Carlyle. Lee had become the company’s first co-chief executive in 2018 and then led as sole CEO as of 2020. Co-founders Conway, David Rubenstein and Daniel D’Aniello, had complained that Lee’s turnaround efforts fell short of expectations and also felt that Lee didn’t consult with them enough when making major decisions.
Schwartz joined Goldman in 1997 as a commodities trader. He had graduated from Rutgers University, and continued on to Columbia University for his MBA. He worked his way up to serve as Chief Financial Officer at Goldman in 2012, and then in 2016 as co-president.
Carlyle Group had considered multiple candidates for the CEO job opening. As per The Financial Times, some of those contenders included: John Waldron, current president at Goldman; Mark Mason, CFO of Citigroup; and current Carlyle executives– including Mark Jenkins who is part of the credit unit and Peter Clare from its private equity business. After the announcement Monday, selecting Schwartz, Carlyle Group shares were trading slightly down 2.33 percent at $33.11 per share, in line with the market fluctuations.
“We would view the conclusion of this (CEO) search as a positive,” Jefferies Analysts wrote in a note, adding that here will be a “necessary grace period to better understand any new strategic initiatives.”
