Carlyle promotes Kaul to head SE Asia buyouts

The Carlyle Group has promoted Sunil Kaul to a newly created role of head of Southeast Asia for its buyout advisory team, the US private equity firm said in a statement on Friday.

Kaul joined the Washington-based firm as a senior director in August 2008 from Citi, where he served as the president of Citibank Japan and a member of the Citi global management committee.

At Carlyle, Kaul has been involved in some of the firm's biggest Asian capital deployments and divestments. He participated in Carlyle's $250 million deal for a 49% stake in India's PNB Housing Finance in February of 2015.

He also had a role in the firm's staggered divestments of its shareholding in India’s Housing Development Finance Corp, which it first invested in 2007. Carlyle sold its entire stake in the mortgage lender in 2012, according to people familiar with the firm's investment activities.

Beyond Southeast Asia, Kaul was involved in Carlyle's bid to sell its stake in Taiwanese lender Ta Chong Bank to Yuanta Financial for $1.7 billion in August of 2015, as well as the 2011 sale of Caribbean Holdings in Hong Kong.

Before joining Carlyle, Kaul was with the Citi for 18 years in a variety of transaction banking and business development roles. In 2006 he was named head of Asia-Pacific retail banking, replacing Rahul Malhotra who left to join Merrill Lynch after a lengthy tenure with Citi.

Greg Zeluck, managing director and co-head of the Carlyle Asia buyout advisory team, said: “In this newly created role, Sunil will lead our investment advisory activities in Southeast Asia as we continue to see great opportunities in this fast-growing region.”

Carlyle has eight investment professionals focused on Southeast Asia with offices in Singapore and Jakarta. As of June, the company has made equity investments of $15.4 billion in the Asia Pacific region, the firm said.

Kaul has a post graduate degree in management from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore and a bachelor’s degree in technology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay.