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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
7. Commitments and Contingencies
Capital Commitments
The Company and its unconsolidated affiliates have unfunded commitments to entities within the following segments as of September 30, 2020 (Dollars in millions):
 Unfunded
Commitments
Corporate Private Equity$2,122.5 
Real Assets872.2 
Global Credit319.5 
Investment Solutions232.1 
Total$3,546.3 
Of the $3.5 billion of unfunded commitments, approximately $3.0 billion is subscribed individually by senior Carlyle professionals, advisors and other professionals, with the balance funded directly by the Company. In addition to these unfunded commitments, the Company may from time to time exercise its right to purchase additional interests in its investment funds that become available in the ordinary course of their operations. Additionally as of September 30, 2020, certain subsidiaries of the Company had $19.5 million in unfunded commitments related to the origination and syndication of loans and securities under the Carlyle Capital Solutions platform.
Guaranteed Loans
In December 2019, the Company entered into an agreement with a financial institution pursuant to which the
Company provided a guarantee on a revolving credit facility with a temporary borrowing capacity of $130.0 million for a fund in the Real Assets segment, which is scheduled to expire in December 2020. The outstanding balance, which was $83.5 million as of September 30, 2020, is secured by uncalled capital commitments of the fund’s limited partners. The Company has not funded any amounts under the guarantee to date, and the fair value of the guarantee is not significant to the consolidated financial statements. The investment fund issued a capital call to its limited partners, which is due October 30, 2020, the proceeds from which will be used to repay outstanding amounts.
On September 3, 2019, the Company entered into an agreement with a financial institution pursuant to which the Company is the guarantor on loans made to eligible employees investing in Carlyle sponsored funds (the “Program”). The Program has an initial period of one year, renewed annually, and accrues interest at either the WSJ Prime Rate minus 1.00% floating or the 12MAT Index plus 2.00% floating, in either case with a floor rate of 3.50% (versus actual rates of 2.25% and 2.74%, respectively, as of September 30, 2020). The aggregate Program limit of all loans is $100.0 million, and is collateralized by each borrower’s interest in the Carlyle sponsored funds. As of September 30, 2020, approximately $13.0 million was outstanding under the Program and payable by the employees. The Company has not funded any amounts under the guarantee to date, and believes the likelihood of any material funding under this guarantee to be remote. The fair value of the guarantee is not significant to the consolidated financial statements. The Program replaced a similar agreement with another financial institution, and as of September 30, 2020, approximately $0.7 million remained outstanding and guaranteed by the Company under that previous agreement.
Certain consolidated subsidiaries of the Company are the guarantors of revolving credit facilities for certain funds in the Investment Solutions segment. The guarantee is limited to the lesser of the total amount drawn under the credit facilities or the net asset value of the guarantor subsidiaries, which is approximately $30.6 million as of September 30, 2020. The outstanding balances are secured by uncalled capital commitments from the underlying funds and the Company believes the likelihood of any material funding under this guarantee to be remote.
Contingent Obligations (Giveback)
A liability for potential repayment of previously received performance allocations of $17.5 million at September 30, 2020 is shown as accrued giveback obligations in the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets, representing the giveback obligation that would need to be paid if the funds were liquidated at their current fair values at September 30, 2020. However, the ultimate giveback obligation, if any, generally is not paid until the end of a fund’s life or earlier if the giveback becomes fixed and early payment is agreed upon by the fund’s partners (see Note 2). The Company has no unbilled receivables from former and current employees and senior Carlyle professionals as of September 30, 2020 related to giveback obligations. As of December 31, 2019, the Company recorded $1.4 million of unbilled receivables from former and current employees and senior
Carlyle professionals related to giveback obligations, which are included in due from affiliates and other receivables, net in the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets. The receivables are collateralized by investments made by individual senior Carlyle professionals and employees in Carlyle-sponsored funds. In addition, $172.8 million and $164.4 million have been withheld from distributions of carried interest to senior Carlyle professionals and employees for potential giveback obligations as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. Such amounts are held on behalf of the respective current and former Carlyle employees to satisfy any givebacks they may owe and are held by entities not included in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets. Current and former senior Carlyle professionals and employees are personally responsible for their giveback obligations. As of September 30, 2020, approximately $9.4 million of the Company’s accrued giveback obligation is the responsibility of various current and former senior Carlyle professionals and other former limited partners of the Carlyle Holdings partnerships, and the net accrued giveback obligation attributable to the Company is $8.1 million.
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company paid $41.3 million to satisfy giveback obligations related to two of its Legacy Energy funds. Approximately $22.1 million of these obligations was paid by current and former senior Carlyle professionals and $19.2 million by the Company.
If, at September 30, 2020, all of the investments held by the Company’s Funds were deemed worthless, a possibility that management views as remote, the amount of realized and distributed carried interest subject to potential giveback would be $0.4 billion, on an after-tax basis where applicable, of which approximately $0.2 billion would be the responsibility of current and former senior Carlyle professionals.
Leases
The Company’s leases primarily consist of operating leases for office space in various countries around the world, including its headquarters in Washington, D.C. These leases have remaining lease terms of 1 year to 15 years, some of which include options to extend for up to 5 years and some of which include an option to terminate the leases within 1 year. The Company also has operating leases for office equipment and vehicles, which are not significant.
In June 2018, the Company entered into an amended non-cancelable lease agreement expiring on March 31, 2030 for its Washington, D.C. office. In connection with the amended lease, the Company exercised an option to terminate its office lease in Arlington, Virginia at the end of 2019. The Company is scheduled to relocate one of its New York City offices in December 2020 to new office space in Midtown New York. The new lease was signed in July 2018 and expires in 2036. In connection with this new lease, the Company incurred a charge of $63.5 million (including transaction costs) during 2018 related to the assignment of an existing office lease in New York City. The charge is expected to be paid over approximately 15 years beginning in December 2020. This charge (excluding $3.5 million of transaction costs paid) was accounted for as a lease incentive, and is included in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities in the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets, since the lease has not yet commenced. Upon commencement, this liability will be presented as a reduction of the lease right-of-use asset.
The following table summarizes the Company’s lease cost, cash flows and other supplemental information related to its operating leases (Dollars in millions):
Three Months Ended
September 30,
Nine Months Ended
September 30,
2020201920202019
Operating lease cost$12.1 $12.3 $35.8 $36.6 
Sublease income(0.6)(0.7)(1.8)(1.7)
Total operating lease cost$11.5 $11.6 $34.0 $34.9 
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities$13.4 $14.6 $42.2 $44.7 
Weighted-average remaining lease term9.4 years9.6 years
Weighted-average discount rate5.3 %5.3 %
Maturities of lease liabilities related to operating leases were as follows (Dollars in millions):
Year ending December 31,
2020 (excluding the nine months ended September 30, 2020)$15.3 
202146.2 
202258.8 
202353.4 
202450.8 
Thereafter442.0 
Total lease payments$666.5 
Less payments for leases that have not yet commenced(333.5)
Less imputed interest(68.0)
Total lease liabilities$265.0 
Legal Matters
In the ordinary course of business, the Company is a party to litigation, investigations, inquiries, employment-related matters, disputes and other potential claims. Certain of these matters are described below. The Company is not currently able to estimate the reasonably possible amount of loss or range of loss, in excess of amounts accrued, for the matters that have not been resolved. The Company does not believe it is probable that the outcome of any existing litigation, investigations, disputes or other potential claims will materially affect the Company or these financial statements in excess of amounts accrued. The Company believes that the matters described below are without merit.
Along with many other companies and individuals in the financial sector, the Company and Carlyle Mezzanine Partners, L.P. (“CMP”) are named as defendants in Foy v. Austin Capital, a case filed in June 2009 in state court in New Mexico, which purports to be a qui tam suit on behalf of the State of New Mexico under the state Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (“FATA”). The suit alleges that investment decisions by New Mexico public investment funds were improperly influenced by campaign contributions and payments to politically connected placement agents. The plaintiffs seek, among other things, actual damages for lost income, rescission of the investment transactions described in the complaint and disgorgement of all fees received. In September 2017, the Court dismissed the lawsuit and the plaintiffs then filed an appeal seeking to reverse that decision. In June 2020, the Court of Appeals affirmed the decision dismissing the case. On June 24, 2020, plaintiffs filed a motion for rehearing with the Court of Appeals. On June 30, 2020, the Court of Appeals denied that motion. Plaintiffs filed an appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court. On October 9, 2020, the New Mexico Supreme Court denied Foy’s petition for certiorari.
Carlyle Capital Corporation Limited (“CCC”) was a fund sponsored by the Company that invested in AAA-rated residential mortgage backed securities on a highly leveraged basis. In March of 2008, amidst turmoil throughout the mortgage markets and money markets, CCC filed for insolvency protection in Guernsey. The Guernsey liquidators who took control of CCC in March 2008 filed a suit on July 7, 2010 against the Company, certain of its affiliates and the former directors of CCC in the Royal Court of Guernsey seeking more than $1.0 billion in damages in a case styled Carlyle Capital Corporation Limited v. Conway et al. On September 4, 2017, the Royal Court of Guernsey ruled that the Company and Directors of CCC acted reasonably and appropriately in the management and governance of CCC and that none of the Company, its affiliates or former directors of CCC had any liability. In December 2017, the plaintiff filed a notice of appeal of the trial court decision. On April 12, 2019 the Guernsey Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and affirmed the trial court’s decision. On July 31, 2019, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. On April 2, 2020, the parties entered into a binding Heads of Agreement and on April 21 executed a definitive settlement agreement, which received court approval on May 1, 2020. Pursuant to this agreement, the Company retains the amounts already received from the plaintiff to reimburse the Company for legal fees and expenses incurred to defend against the claims (approximately £23.3 million) and received the funds deposited as security with the Privy Council (approximately £850,000). All claims have now been dismissed. The Company recognized $29.9 million as a reduction to general, administrative and other expenses in the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations during the nine months ended September 30, 2020.
A Luxembourg subsidiary of CEREP I, a real estate fund, was involved in a tax dispute with the French authorities beginning in 2010 relating to whether gain from the sale of an investment was taxable in France. In April 2015, the French tax court issued an opinion in this matter adverse to CEREP I, holding the Luxembourg subsidiary of CEREP I liable for approximately €105 million (including interest accrued since the beginning of the tax dispute). CEREP I paid approximately €30 million of the tax obligations and the Company paid the remaining approximately €75 million in its capacity as a guarantor.
After an appeals process, in July 2019, the parties agreed to settle this matter by reducing the tax claim to €37.1 million of French tax and interest. The remaining €80.5 million will be retained by the Company and CEREP I. Accordingly, the Company recognized $71.5 million in principal investment income during the year ended December 31, 2019.
During 2017, the Company entered into settlement and purchase agreements with investors in a hedge fund and two structured finance vehicles managed by Vermillion related to investments of approximately $400 million in petroleum commodities that the Company believes were misappropriated by third parties outside the U.S. During the fourth quarter of 2018, the Company reached an agreement with the primary underwriters in the marine cargo insurance policies for $55 million, of which the Company recognized approximately $32 million in insurance proceeds during the year ended December 31, 2018, with the remaining proceeds to be distributed to former investors. Although additional recovery efforts continue, there is no assurance that the Company will be successful in any of these efforts and the Company will not recognize any amounts in respect of such recoveries until such amounts are probable of payment.
The Company currently is and expects to continue to be, from time to time, subject to examinations, formal and informal inquiries and investigations by various U.S. and non-U.S. governmental and regulatory agencies, including but not limited to, the SEC, Department of Justice, state attorneys general, FINRA, National Futures Association and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority. The Company routinely cooperates with such examinations, inquiries and investigations, and they may result in the commencement of civil, criminal, or administrative or other proceedings against the Company or its personnel.
It is not possible to predict the ultimate outcome of all pending investigations and legal proceedings and employment-related matters, and some of the matters discussed above involve claims for potentially large and/or indeterminate amounts of damages. Based on information known by management, management does not believe that as of the date of this filing the final resolutions of the matters above will have a material effect upon the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements. However, given the potentially large and/or indeterminate amounts of damages sought in certain of these matters and the inherent unpredictability of investigations and litigations, it is possible that an adverse outcome in certain matters could, from time to time, have a material effect on the Company’s financial results in any particular period.
The Company accrues an estimated loss contingency liability when it is probable that such a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. As of September 30, 2020, the Company had recorded liabilities aggregating to approximately $35 million for litigation-related contingencies, regulatory examinations and inquiries, and other matters. The Company evaluates its outstanding legal and regulatory proceedings and other matters each quarter to assess its loss contingency accruals, and makes adjustments in such accruals, upward or downward, as appropriate, based on management’s best judgment after consultation with counsel. There is no assurance that the Company’s accruals for loss contingencies will not need to be adjusted in the future or that, in light of the uncertainties involved in such matters, the ultimate resolution of these matters will not significantly exceed the accruals that the Company has recorded.
Indemnifications
In the normal course of business, the Company and its subsidiaries enter into contracts that contain a variety of representations and warranties and provide general indemnifications. The Company’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Company that have not yet occurred. However, based on experience, the Company believes the risk of material loss to be remote.
Risks and Uncertainties
Carlyle’s funds seek investment opportunities that offer the possibility of attaining substantial capital appreciation. Certain events particular to each industry in which the underlying investees conduct their operations, as well as general economic, political, regulatory and public health conditions, may have a significant negative impact on the Company’s investments and profitability. For example, the recent COVID-19 outbreak and its implications may have a significant impact on the values of the investments of the funds and the performance of our strategic investments, and therefore the financial results of the Company. The funds managed by the Company may also experience a slowdown in the deployment of capital, which could adversely affect the Company’s ability to raise capital for new or successor funds and could also impact the management fees the Company earns on its carry funds and managed accounts. Such events are beyond the Company’s control, and the likelihood that they may occur and the effect on the Company cannot be predicted.
Furthermore, certain of the funds’ investments are made in private companies and there are generally no public markets for the underlying securities at the current time. The funds’ ability to liquidate their publicly-traded investments are often subject to limitations, including discounts that may be required to be taken on quoted prices due to the number of shares being sold. The funds’ ability to liquidate their investments and realize value is subject to significant limitations and uncertainties, including among others currency fluctuations and natural disasters.
The Company and the funds make investments outside of the United States. Investments outside the United States may be subject to less developed bankruptcy, corporate, partnership and other laws (which may have the effect of disregarding or otherwise circumventing the limited liability structures potentially causing the actions or liabilities of one fund or a portfolio company to adversely impact the Company or an unrelated fund or portfolio company). Non-U.S. investments are subject to the same risks associated with the Company’s U.S. investments as well as additional risks, such as fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, heightened risk of political and economic instability, difficulties in managing non-U.S. investments, potentially adverse tax consequences and the burden of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws.
Furthermore, Carlyle is exposed to economic risk concentrations related to certain large investments as well as concentrations of investments in certain industries and geographies.
Additionally, the Company encounters credit risk. Credit risk is the risk of default by a counterparty in the Company’s investments in debt securities, loans, leases and derivatives that result from a borrower’s, lessee’s or derivative counterparty’s inability or unwillingness to make required or expected payments.
The Company considers cash, cash equivalents, securities, receivables, principal equity method investments, accounts payable, accrued expenses, other liabilities, loans, senior notes, assets and liabilities of Consolidated Funds and contingent and other consideration for acquisitions to be its financial instruments. Except for the senior notes, the carrying amounts reported in the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets for these financial instruments equal or closely approximate their fair values. The fair value of the senior notes is disclosed in Note 5.