The Carlyle Group Announces that Louis Gerstner Will Retire as Chairman, Become Senior Advisor to Buyout Funds

Washington, DC – Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group today announced that Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. will retire as Chairman, a post held since January 2003, and become a Senior Advisor to Carlyle’s Asia, Europe, Japan and U.S. buyouts funds, effective September 30, 2008. A successor has not been named.

Carlyle Co-founder Daniel A. D’Aniello said, “Lou joined Carlyle at a critical time in our global growth and development, helping us to institutionalize and mature key aspects of the firm. As Lou reduces his overall role, we are grateful that he will move into a Senior Advisor position focusing on our major buyout funds. Lou’s decades of operational experience at the pinnacle of the corporate world have been critical to our buyout decision making these past five years and thankfully we will continue to benefit from his wisdom and counsel.”

Mr. Gerstner said, “Initially, I committed to be Chairman of Carlyle for one year. But year after year I continued to be impressed with Carlyle’s value creation model and its efforts to globalize the firm. However, at this point in my life, I have a number of goals and interests yet to fulfill, requiring me to step back at Carlyle. That said, I am pleased to continue my relationship with this remarkable organization in this more focused role advising Carlyle’s buyout funds.”

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Gerstner was Chairman of IBM from 1993 to December 2002 and Chief Executive Officer of IBM from 1993 until March 2002.

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