The Carlyle Group Expands Asia Leveraged Finance Business; David Balint Named Director to Lead New Effort in Australia and New Zealand

Hong Kong – Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group today announced that David Balint has been appointed as a Director of Carlyle Asia Leveraged Finance Group, based in Sydney. He will manage the team’s investment strategy in Australia and New Zealand, reporting to Eric R. Mason, Head of Carlyle Asia Leveraged Finance Group. Mr. Balint has commenced employment with the firm.

With 12 years of investment banking experience in complex debt structuring, arranging and advisory, Mr. Balint joins Carlyle from Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ). He was a Director of the Leveraged & Acquisition Business based in Sydney for four years, leading deal sourcing and arranging and underwriting leveraged and acquisition transactions supporting the Financial Sponsor community and Australian companies. Prior to this, Mr. Balint worked with ANZ’s Project & Structured Finance offices in Melbourne and London where he was a financial advisor and arranger/underwriter to the Project Finance markets in Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

“David brings extensive experience and contacts across the Australian and New Zealand leveraged finance markets, and we are pleased to have him join our team,” said Mr. Mason. “David’s addition underscores Carlyle’s continued confidence in the investment opportunities in leveraged finance within the Asia Pacific region. Adding a senior executive based in Sydney to work with our investment professionals in Tokyo and Hong Kong also reaffirms the team’s commitment to maintaining a strong local presence in its core markets.”

Mr. Mason added, “With the strong track record of results he achieved with ANZ, one of Australia’s top leveraged and structured debt lenders, we are confident that David will have an immediate and positive impact on our business.”

Established in May 2007, Carlyle Asia Leveraged Finance Group is the first dedicated leveraged finance team among private equity funds in Asia, complementing Carlyle’s established leveraged finance teams in the U.S. and Europe. It has expanded into a team of six professionals in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney. The firm’s leveraged finance group manages more than US$14 billion globally in 24 funds.

“The Carlyle Asia Leveraged Finance Group is based around a team of professionals with a great depth of experience in each of their local markets. This structure and the close relationships built in these markets will ensure we can maximize deal flow opportunities for our investors’ funds. Given the proven Carlyle debt assessment and lending model, I feel our investors and clients have access to a world class group. I look forward to working with the team to grow Carlyle’s leveraged finance business in Asia,” said Mr. Balint.

Mr. Balint earned his Master of Finance and Bachelor of Business (economics & finance) degrees at RMIT University in Melbourne.

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