By Greg Roumeliotis
(Reuters) - Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP
Carlyle's private equity portfolio appreciated 5 percent in the second quarter, roughly in line with last year. But its energy funds depreciated amid lower commodity prices, and its hedge fund unit Claren Road Asset Management also saw losses.
As a result, Carlyle said economic net income (ENI), an earnings metric that factors in the mark-to-market value of its portfolio, dropped to $180 million in the second quarter from $289 million a year earlier.
This translated to post-tax ENI per adjusted unit of 55 cents versus the 54-cent average forecast of analysts in a Thomson Reuters poll.
Like its major peers, Carlyle has diversified beyond corporate buyouts into alternative credit, real estate and funds of funds. Yet private equity dominates its income, accounting for 33 percent of assets under management but contributing 99 percent of its earnings in the quarter.
Carlyle sold shares in several of its companies in the quarter, including Nielsen NV
The cash from those and other asset sales resulted in $386 million in distributable earnings in the quarter on a pre-tax basis, up from $323 million a year earlier.
Carlyle's assets under management were $192.8 billion as of the end of June, only marginally up from $192.7 billion as of the end of March.
Carlyle also said on Wednesday that its latest European private equity fund had completed fundraising, reaching its cap of 3.75 billion euros ($4.1 billion).
Carlyle announced a second-quarter dividend of 89 cents per common unit.
(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
