Carlyle Capital Corporation

Lenders to liquidate Carlyle unit

Carlyle Capital Corporation (CCC), a unit of the private equity firm Carlyle Group, has said it will not be able to meet lenders' demands for money.

The US mortgage-backed bond fund will collapse if, as expected, its lenders liquidate the fund to take possession of its remaining assets.

CCC is the latest casualty of the declining US housing market.

Its shares were suspended last week after some lenders forced it to sell assets to get their cash back.

"Almost within the blink of an eye, a business that had borrowed $21bn from the world's biggest banks to invest in high-quality mortgage-backed securities will be gone, liquidated, kaput," said BBC business editor Robert Peston.

"Such is the whirlwind blowing through global financial markets."

CCC's collapse will lose its clients some $600m, according to Simon Denham, managing director at Capital Spreads.

He believes this will have a "serious knock on effect across the hedge fund fraternity" with lending banks demanding an increasing level of cash to insulate themselves against the possibilities of credit defaults.

(Published by BBC News March 13, 2008)