Carlyle Defends $344 Million in Benefit Payments to Founders

The Carlyle Group Inc. defended a $344 million payment to cofounder David Rubenstein and other senior leaders Wednesday from attacks by a pension fund that claims the nine-figure payment was pushed through even though the executives weren’t entitled to compensation under the circumstances.

The payment approved by the board when the private equity firm changed its corporate structure was lower than the value of long-held tax benefits regularly disclosed in financial statements to shareholders, which ranged up to $1.3 billion, said Robert Van Kirk of Williams & Connolly LLP, representing the firm and executives, in a hearing in Delaware Chancery ...