What is kkr

To see Kravis at his perch on 57th Street, visitors have to walk by a dark, mahogany-clad elevator bank toward a security guard who sits behind a formal window that resembles a casino cage. Once approved, visitors enter another reception area through imposing mahogany doors that open to a flood of light and majestic floor-to-ceiling views of Central Park and the Plaza and Pierre hotels.

At the end is Kravis, sitting in his private meeting room, fit and 5-foot-6 with piercing blue eyes, dressed in a tailored suit with a magenta tie. Any fool can buy a company. There are red flowers and a large black-and-white drawing of Chairman Mao by Andy Warhol, a lithograph by Jasper Johns and a staircase painted in diagonal blue lines by the contemporary artist Terry Haggerty. In the s, corporate America was bloated by conglomerates built by ambitious businessmen like Harold Geneen of ITT.

Kohlberg deployed novel financing techniques to move in the other direction, helping sharp divisional managers buy unloved businesses from their overstretched parents. KKR's cofounders say they last quarreled at age 7. Kravis, who grew up in Tulsa, got his start working for the closed-end Madison Fund in New York, which controlled a railroad operator called Katy Industries and used its tax losses to make acquisitions. While getting his M.

In , the three joined forces, running a small group at the investment bank, with Kravis based in New York while Roberts moved to California. After about a dozen successful deals, they set out on their own in Kravis and Roberts were buying large companies outright: Beatrice and Safeway in , Owens-Illinois a year later. Kravis and Roberts were interested in the connection between environmental efficiency and profits.

Helping its portfolio companies became a top priority for the firm. To that end it expanded its in-house consulting arm, KKR Capstone, which now has 66 consultants advising the portfolio of companies on growth plans, acquisitions and cost savings. To spot risks, KKR has added teams to study global macroeconomics, technological disruption and political change. Stavros, now 44, the son of a Greek-American construction worker and a first-generation college graduate, believed productivity and profitability would increase if you gave equity to hourly workers on manufacturing lines, truckers and other nonexecutive employees.

At Harvard Business School, Stavros dedicated his thesis to the benefits of employee stock ownership. Kohlberg, Kravis, and Roberts left the company to start a firm on their own shortly after.

Over the years, KKR has acquired dozens of businesses. KKR has expanded into new business segments since the launch of their first private equity fund. The company holds investments in a wide range of income-producing real estate throughout the United States. This includes office rentals, retail spaces and health care properties. KKR also constructs and manages hedge funds.

Henry Kravis made his billion-dollar fortune by using other people's money to purchase businesses. Today KKR is one of the world's most successful and largest private equity firms. American Academy of Achievement. Claremont McKenna College. Bryan Burrough. New York Times. Business Leaders. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Investopedia.

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KKR Was Born. The Bottom Line. Today's Range. Key Developments. Key Metrics. All Listings. Inc is a global investment company. The Company offers alternative asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. The Company manages investments funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and hedge funds. It offers a range of investment management services to its fund investors, and provides capital markets services to its firm, its portfolio companies and third parties.

The Company conducts its business with offices across the world, providing it with a global platform for sourcing transactions, raising capital and carrying out capital markets activities. The Company also offers annuities for individuals through a network of banks, broker-dealers, and insurance agencies. Investment Services. Contact Info. United States. Executive Leadership.