Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Carlyle's Cayman Pirates & Hampton Roads Bankshares


SEC filings show five of The Carlyle Group's six funds invested in Hampton Roads Bankshares are "Cayman Islands exempted limited partnerships."  The list includes:

DBD Cayman, Ltd.
TCG Holdings Cayman II, L.P.
TC Group Cayman Investment Holdings, L.P.
Carlyle Financial Services, Ltd.
TCG Financial Services, L.P.
Carlyle Financial Services Harbor, L.P.
The filing stated the relationship between the various Carlyle holdings.  Think Russian nesting doll:

DBD Cayman, Ltd. is the general partner of TCG Holdings Cayman II, L.P., which is the general partner of TC Group Cayman Investment Holdings, L.P., which is the sole shareholder of Carlyle Financial Services, Ltd., which is the general partner of TCG Financial Services, L.P., which is the general partner of Carlyle Financial Services Harbor, L.P. The shares of Common Stock reported in this Schedule 13D are held directly by Carlyle Financial Services Harbor, L.P.
Why so many offshore partnerships for Carlyle and their founders, known collectively as DBD (David, Bill, Daniel)?  Why are so many tied to one American bank?

Hampton Roads Bankshares received TARP funds and was delinquent on dividend payments.  Thus, Treasury had to agree to the deal.  It didn't hurt that Carlyle had former Undersecretary of Treasury Randall Quarles in their employ.  The filing referred to Quarles:

Carlyle shall be able to designate an individual to serve as Carlyle’s representative on the board of directors of the Issuer (the “Board of Directors”) as well as on the boards of directors of the following subsidiaries of the Issuer: The Bank of Hampton Roads and Shore Bank (the “Bank Boards”). In connection therewith, Randal K. Quarles was appointed as Carlyle’s representative to the Board of Directors.
Simpson Thatcher and Bartlett represented Carlyle in this investment.  It's not clear whose interests Tim Geithner represented, given all the Carlyle Cayman connections.

How long before pirate Carlyle flips the bank, like BankUnited, and runs their booty to the Western Carribean?  Aaaarrrgghhhh!

Update 5-21-11:  Hampton Roads stock price is up, how long before the cash-in?