What do Marc Stern and an Olsen twin have in common? Did you know that the sibling of an ex-president of France pulled the trigger on Carlyle Group's planned purchase of TCW [profile] from Societe Generale? Those are just two tidbits gleaned from morning-after coverage of the deal.

Multiple publications note that Olivier Sarkozy, head of Carlyle's global financial services group and architect of the deal, is the half-brother of French ex-president Nicholas Sarkozy. That probably didn't hurt Carlyle's negotiating position with SocGen, a giant French bank. And as a recently as July 19 the New York Post reported that "the romance between Mary-Kate Olsen and Olivier Sarkozy is becoming more serious," with Sarkozy buying a downtown Big Apple townhouse.

Morningstar's Fund Times column and TCW's hometown paper, the Los Angeles Times, both confirm that TCW offered PMs five-year contracts and equity in TCW (management and employees will hold 40 percent post-sale), and that PMs in charge of 90 percent of TCW's $131 billion in assets under management have already signed up.

Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, multiple pubs estimate that the deal values TCW at between $700 million and $800 million in total, putting the price tag for Carlyle's funds' 60 percent stake at $420 million to $480 million.

Carlyle's hometown paper, the Washington Post, notes that, despite the deal, yesterday was not a good day for the freshly-public private equity shop. Its shares fell 1.31 percent to $24.02.

Is a TCW IPO right around the corner? Multiple pubs highlight the fact that Carlyle's buying TCW for two of its funds, not for itself, suggesting a shorter expected hold time. Sarkozy, TCW chairman-to-be and outgoing CEO Marc Stern, and new TCW CEO David Lippman all told Pensions & Investments that it's too early to speculate on a possible TCW IPO. Fortune, though, is more certain.

"Don't be surprised to see TCW on the IPO calendar within the next couple of years," a Fortune editor writes.

Deal coverage pops up in a number of other pubs, including: Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, Bloomberg Businessweek, the Deal, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Business Journal, the New York Times, RTTNews and the Wall Street Journal 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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