By Chibuike Oguh

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:) Inc announced Thursday that its third quarter distributable earnings jumped almost fivefold due to record sales of assets, mainly in its private equity portfolio.

Record distribution earnings were $731 million. This is an increase from the $152million a year prior. Carlyle posted after-tax distributable earnings of $1.54 per share, exceeding the Wall Street analysts’ average forecast of $1.02 according to Refinitiv.

Low interest rates and the economic recovery from COVID-19 have enabled many private equity firms, such as Carlyle, to sell top-dollar investments and driven merger and acquisition activity up to new heights.

Blackstone Group Inc (NYSE:) Inc was the largest private equity company in the world last week. It reported that distributable earnings increased more than twice to an all time high during the third quarter due to the strong sales of assets.

Washington D.C.-based Carlyle announced that in its fourth quarter it made a record $14 billion by selling assets, which included its minority stake in Nestle SA supplement maker The Bountiful Company (SIX), and Novetta Solutions (NYSE) Plc analytics firm Novetta Solutions (NYSE) Plc.

Carlyle stated that it spent $6.3 billion on stakes acquisitions, which included Texas-based software company Abrigo as well as two subsidiaries of Japan Asia Group energy and environmental firm Japan Asia Group.

Kewsong, Carlyle’s Chief Executive Officer, stated in an interview that “By any measure it was record quarter for us.” It is a result of our environment. We have also been investing well in the companies.

Carlyle stated that the value of its corporate equity funds rose by 4% and its real estate funds grew by 9%. The quarter saw a 10% increase in funds managed by its secondaries company. Blackstone however reported a 9.9% gain in its private equity fund while core realty funds rose 7.6%.

Carlyle posted net income of $533million under generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP), up 80% from the previous year. This was driven by an increase in investment income.

Due to capital raising and appreciation, total assets under management grew to record levels of $293 billion. This is a 6% increase over the previous quarter. The amount of unspent capital rose to $89 billion.