Carlyle Weighs Lower IPO Price at Discount to Blackstone

Carlyle Group LP may cut the price of its initial share sale as it seeks to replicate the performance of companies it has taken public and emerge as the only U.S. buyout firm trading above its offering level.

The Washington-based private equity manager plans to sell shares for $22 to $23 each after seeking $23 to $25, said two people with knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.

Carlyle deepened the discount it’s offering relative to rival Blackstone Group LP (BX) (BX) even after co-founder David Rubenstein told prospective investors in New York last week the deal is designed to maximize returns for buyers. The firm has enough orders to cover the sale at $23, and may price lower to boost the chance of a first-day gain, the people said.

“It’s a little bit of a harder sell than in the past,” said Tim Loughran, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business in Notre Dame, Indiana. “If private equity had been doing so well they wouldn’t have to be doing this discount to get people interested.”

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