Private equity giant Carlyle Group is expected to announce as soon as late today that it will acquire Los Angeles asset manager TCW Group Inc., sources told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

TCW employees, who already own a sizeable chunk of the firm, would see their position would grow in the deal. Carlyle plans to make TCW a portfolio company rather than fold it into its own operations, the Journal said.

TCW, which has about $127 billion in assets under management, is majority-owned by France’s Société Générale SA. It has been cutting costs and selling assets to help it meet new capital targets imposed on European banks in the wake of the European financial crisis.