2008 Annual Report - The Carlyle Group

190With 190 branch and satellitelocations throughout Australiaand Indonesia, Coates has anextensive distribution capabilitywith expanded scale and size tomeet the needs of a wide rangeof customers.1 millionCoates manages over1 million individual assetsin more than 30 differentproduct categories, alldesigned to help its customersget the job done—safelyand reliably.two companies, significant cost reductions and efficiencieshave been achieved by centralizing procurement; consolidatingthe back office; removing public company costs; and eliminatingduplicate roles, stores and locations.Carlyle helped management improve the utilization of thecompany’s existing fleet across its various markets, cappingnew capital expenditures and facilitating the selective disposalof older equipment. This resulted in material debt pre-paymentof A$120 million and cash accumulation of approximatelyA$150 million.In addition, Carlyle worked with its partners, NationalHire/Westrac and Australian Capital Equities, to developand implement a hedging strategy for Coates’ interest raterisk. That has enabled the company to move almost entirelyto a floating rate, allowing it to benefit from the decline inAustralian official interest rates. Full-year interest savings in2009–2010 are expected to be approximately A$60 million.The transaction was named Deal of the Year 2007by Australian Financial Review and Deal of the Year 2008(Australia) by The Banker.2008 The Carlyle Group 27