Carlyle hires Goldman exec to lead direct lending unit
Carlyle Group has hired a Goldman Sachs executive to lead its direct lending arm, as it looks to expand its private credit offering.
Alex Chi, who most recently held the role of co-head of Americas private credit at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, will join Carlyle in early 2026, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.
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He will reportedly join Carlyle as partner, sit on the firm’s leadership committee and also hold the position of co-deputy investment chief for the asset manager’s $199bn (£147bn) credit unit.
Carlyle said in the memo that its $11bn direct lending business is a “key component of our private credit strategy”.
It said that Chi’s appointment would “further accelerate the growth and impact of our global credit business.”
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Chi has worked at Goldman Sachs since 1994, according to his LinkedIn profile, having started out as a programmer analyst before moving into debt capital markets, corporate finance and leveraged finance.
Carlyle is keen to expand its private credit offering to take advantage of the steady yields and diversification on offer from this booming $1.7tn market. Since early 2023, credit has grown from 46 per cent of Carlyle’s fee-earning assets to 51 per cent in the first quarter of this year, although direct lending remains a small part of its business.
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