Bermuda-based fund administrator Butterfield Fulcrum Group (BFG) adamantly denied media reports yesterday that suggested it was poised to be bought out by private-equity giant Carlyle Group.Hedge-fund trade magazine HFM Week reported that Carlyle was seeking to buy the BFG stake held by 3i, a UK-based buy-out firm, to acquire a majority stake in the company.But BFG chief executive officer Michael Clark told The Royal Gazette yesterday: “There’s no truth in that whatsoever. I told the magazine not to print that, but they elected to do so.”BFG was founded two-and-a-half years ago by a merger between Butterfield Fund Services and the Fulcrum Group. Butterfield Bank recorded a $115 million gain from the deal and retained a 40 percent stake in the new merged entity.3i, which was an existing shareholder in the Fulcrum Group, owned 53 percent of Butterfield Fulcrum after the deal, while Fulcrum directors and management owned the rest.A Butterfield Bank spokesman said in response to our questions about the story: “The article that was published by HFM Week is purely conjecture. As a matter of policy, we don’t comment on speculation or rumour.“With respect to our interest in BFG, Butterfield currently holds a minority ownership position in the company.”Carlyle, one of the world’s largest private-equity firms, has a substantial interest in Butterfield Bank, having invested $150 million in the group in March last year. It headed a group of mainly overseas investors, who ploughed more than $500 million into the bank in exchange for newly issued equity.BFG manages about $60 billion of hedge fund assets and on its website claims to be a top-five administrator in the alternative investment industry. The company’s headquarters are in the Rosebank building in Bermudiana Road. BFG has offices in nine countries and services more than 800 funds.