Carlyle’s $8.5B IPO valuation lags rival

Buyout behemoth--is pressing ahead with plans for an initial public offering that would value the firm at roughly $8.5 billion -- little more than half the value of its closest competitor, Blackstone Group, The Post has learned.



The politically connected Washington firm is finding that Wall Street doesn’t place as high a value on the money it makes from buying and selling companies, which represents much of its revenue, sources said.



Carlyle’s current IPO valuation stands in stark contrast to Blackstone’s $15.3 billion in enterprise value, although the two private-equity firms have roughly the same $150 billion in assets under management.