Carlyle Buys Churchill Financial to Expand Lending Before IPO

Carlyle Group, the private-equity firm planning to go public next year, bought Churchill Financial LLC to expand its lending business. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Churchill Financial, based in New York, has funded more than $1 billion in loans to midsize companies in the past 18 months and manages a $1.25 billion collateralized-loan obligation, the companies said today in a statement. In a departure for Carlyle, which in the past has mostly acquired CLO assets, the deal will add 13 investment professionals and serve as the base for a new strategy at the Washington-based firm.