Feb 11 (Reuters) - Carlyle Group's ( CG ) distributable

earnings for the fourth quarter missed market expectations on

Tuesday, overshadowing a strong growth in the alternative asset

manager's capital market business.

The profit miss was largely due to lower proceeds from asset

sales, resulting in a 24.1% slide in earnings at its private

equity business.

The asset manager's profit available to shareholders stood

at $384 million, or 92 cents per share, 4 cents short of

analysts' expectations, according to LSEG estimates.

Its realized performance revenue, mostly driven by asset

sales from its private equity arm, fell 4.7% to $245.7 million.

Still, Carlyle achieved the financial goals laid out at the

start of the last year. Under CEO Harvey Schwartz, Carlyle has

prioritized margin growth and investment performance by

rejigging leadership and realigning compensation model.

The asset manager reported record fee-related earnings of

$287.4 million, a 13% jump from a year ago, while assets under

management rose 4% to $441 billion.

Inflows stood at $14.2 billion, driven by its credit

business. Carlyle retained $84 billion of unspent capital and

deployed $17.6 billion in investments.

CAPITAL MARKETS SHINE

In a bright spot, Carlyle's transaction and portfolio

advisory fees more than doubled to $80.6 million in the fourth

quarter, exceeding Street expectations of $55.3 million.

Capital markets has been a major focus area for Carlyle

since Schwartz took the mantle in early 2023. For 2024, the

business had a record year.

Rival KKR last week reported strong growth in its

capital markets business.

Carlyle's corporate private equity funds and real estate

funds rose 1%, while global credit funds gained 3%.

In terms of exits, Carlyle in October took portfolio

companies StandardAero ( SARO ) and Rigaku ( RGAKF ) public in

the U.S. and Japan, respectively.

The asset manager had in December agreed to sell Italian

component maker Forgital to U.S. alternative investment firm

Stonepeak in a deal valued at more than 1.5 billion euros

($1.55 billion).

($1 = 0.9691 euros)

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun

Koyyur)