NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Carlyle Group LP’s Olivier Sarkozy, the head of the private-equity firm’s financial services group, has resigned, people with knowledge of the move said.

Mr Sarkozy, the half-brother of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is a director of Butterfield Bank. He led Carlyle’s initial $150 million investment in Butterfield in 2010. Last year, Carlyle bought 23.4 million more Butterfield shares.

Mr Sarkozy joined Washington-based Carlyle in 2008 from UBS Group AG. Carlyle raised two financial services investment funds under his leadership. The first raised $1.1 billion and the second got $1 billion.

Mr Sarkozy will continue as a senior adviser to the firm, one of the people said. The people asked not to be named because the departure hasn’t been announced.

A spokesman for Carlyle declined to comment. Mr Sarkozy didn’t respond to e-mail and phone messages seeking comment.

Mr Sarkozy, who turned 47 yesterday, led Carlyle’s investments in Butterfield, TCW Group, BankUnited, Boston Private Financial Holdings, Central Pacific Financial Corp and Duff & Phelps, among others. His first fund, which started investing in 2008, was generating a 13 per cent annualised return after fees as of March 31, according to Carlyle’s first-quarter earnings statement. The firm hasn’t yet disclosed a return for the second fund, which started investing in 2013.

In March, Carlyle added David Zwiener as an operating executive in the financial institutions group. Mr Zwiener served as interim CEO of Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe when the company was working on a merger plan with Axis Capital Holdings, a tie-up that was eventually derailed by Italian investment firm Exor. Mr Zweiner co-led Carlyle from 2007 to 2008 before working at Wachovia Corp, Dowling Capital Partners and PartnerRe.

At UBS, Mr Sarkozy was global co-head of the Zurich-based bank’s financial institutions group, working on deals including Sallie Mae Bank’s attempted $25 billion take-private transaction, the $17 billion merger of Mellon Financial Corp and Bank of New York Co, and Wachovia Corp’s $14 billion acquisition of SouthTrust Corp. He previously spent 11 years at Credit Suisse First Boston.

He married fashion designer and former actress Mary-Kate Olsen last year.

Carlyle, which manages $178 billion in private-equity holdings, real estate, credit assets and hedge funds, started its financial services deals team in 2007. Other recent departures from the firm include Mitch Petrick, who oversaw its credit and hedge-fund business, and Jacques Chappuis, who led its funds-of-funds unit. The two executives are senior advisers to Carlyle.