Carlyle Group Starts Trading, Moves Higher Early

Carlyle Group’s (CG) debut on the public markets was not exactly triumphant — the company had already priced the shares below the expected range on tepid investor appetite.

But shares are on the way up this morning, rising 1.5% to $22.33. The price values Carlyle at about $7 billion, versus $16 billion for Blackstone (BX), $2 billion at Fortress Investment Group (FIG) and about $4 billion for KKR (KKR).

Carlyle’s three founders, have agreed not to sell their holdings for the next few years, The New York Times notes. That could give investors confidence that the owners aren’t simply using the IPO to cash out. That said, the stocks of publicly traded private equity partnerships have certainly struggled recently — Blackstone is off 30% in the past year.