The Carlyle Group Inc. has grown its EBITDA, fee-related earnings, and assets under management (AUM) meaningfully in the last few years, and we now expect it to operate with weighted-average leverage of about 1x, below our prior forecast. While the company has strengthened its financial position, its higher-rated peers generally still have greater profitability, financial flexibility, and AUM. We affirmed our 'A-' issuer credit ratings on Carlyle and its operating subsidiaries as well as our 'A-' and 'BBB' issue-level ratings on its senior unsecured and subordinated debt, respectively. The stable rating outlook reflects our expectation that over the next two years the company will operate with leverage near 1x while moderately growing its fee-related earnings and AUM. On Oct. 15,
