Page one of the Wall Street Journal:
Carlyle Group, the powerful Washington-based buyout firm, has long been known for its gold-plated connections. Its chairman is Louis Gerstner, the legendary former IBM chief, and it once employed both former British Prime Minister John Major and former President George H.W. Bush.
But connections don't mean much in today's credit crunch.
Yesterday, a publicly traded investment fund affiliated with Carlyle Group that had ballooned to $22.7 billion back in the era of easy borrowing all but collapsed as banks rushed to sell assets backing the mortgage fund. Shares of Carlyle Capital Corp., which trades in Europe, are down 97% for the year, closing yesterday at 35 cents.
Across Wall Street, banks that once lent freely and engaged in all sorts of complex transactions are now scrambling to protect their balance sheets. Some that once fought to lend to private-equity firms are now suing their erstwhile clients....MUCH MORE
