With the IPO market warming up, even as the after-market for IPOs cools, more alternative investment managers are aiming for an initial public offering. Carlyle Group, the private equity powerhouse, which has been yearning to follow Blackstone Group, Apollo and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts to listed status, has chosen JPMorgan, Citigroup and Credit Suisse as its underwriters, while Oaktree Capital has selected Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Both Carlyle and Oaktree hope the market remains receptive to such deals going forward. There is always a chance that both firms could manage to go public and then promptly tank once it starts trading, following the pattern of Blackstone, which went public in early 2007, only to suffer an extended decline in the aftermarket.

The controversy continues in the form of class action suit that contends the company concealed Blackstone's exposure to subprime mortgages and other risky investments ahead of the offering. None of the alternative asset managers that trade publically have set the world on fire. But that wasn't really the point. There are many other advantages to trading publically. A rising stock--or at least sinking--price would be icing on the cake.

For more:
- here's more on the Carlyle Group from the Washington Post
- Here's more on Oaktree from the Financial Times

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