The Breadth and Reach of KKR

HCA, Safeway, Alliance Boots, Duracell, RJR Nabisco, Gillette, Sealy, Toys R Us, Beatrice — these are just some of the companies absorbed into the portfolio of world-renowned Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Those entities are in the company of history. KKR introduced the world to leveraged buyouts, or the act of acquiring undervalued companies via equity and borrowed money in the hopes of reselling them.

With 45 companies and 14 funds under its belt, KKR remains a force to reckon with in an industry it singly invented. It is by far the longest-running private equity firm, whose founding in 1976 only serves to highlight the breadth of its experience. Through the years, it has completed investments in more than 160 companies.

Founded by George Roberts, Henry Kravis, and Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., KKR is still fiercely competitive even in today’s markets. As yet, the firm boasts of $53 billion in assets under management.

KKR is the engineer of the biggest and most decadent management buyouts in history. It has set buyout records in the United States, Europe, India, Singapore, and Turkey, among others. In yet another feat, KKR spent $45 billion in 2007 to claim Texan utility TXU for its own.

Lately, KKR has distinguished two arms in the company, KKR Financial Holdings and KKR Strategic Capital Fund.

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