The Carlyle Group is thisclose to sealing a nearly $5 billion buyout of DuPont’s auto paint business, The Post has learned.
Carlyle, which may still team with another private-equity firm on the buyout, is offering about eight times earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization, sources said, which is a bit higher than DuPont had been expecting.
The deal, which could still fall apart, would leave bids by Apollo Management, Blackstone and KKR in its wake.
It is Carlyle’s second big victory in less than a month.
Carlyle, which is known for its Washington, DC, political ties, announced late last month it had joined with BC Partners in a $3.5 billion deal to buy industrials company Hamilton Sundstrand from United Technologies. They would be two of the year’s biggest buyouts.
Carlyle may have reason to be aggressively pursuing buyouts, a source said.
As of Dec. 31, the firm had spent only 63 percent of the money from its $13.7 billion 2007 North American fund, according to a CalPERS pension website.
These days buyout firms don’t start raising new funds until they have invested about 75 percent or more of their prior vehicles. Otherwise, present investors wonder why they need to invest new money, and pay more management fees.
Yet this year Caryle is raising a new $10 billion fund; it reportedly has lowered its fees on its new fund, and raised $2 billion.
Carlyle and DuPont did not return calls.