KKR set to float on the New York Stock Exchange in a $9bn debut
KKR is hoping to buck the trend with an ambitious flotation on the New York Stock Exchange, expected to value the buy-out fund at $9bn (£5.9bn).
The firm, best known for its £11bn takeover of Alliance Boots in 2007, has planned to float for three years, but market volatility has thwarted them, reports the Daily Telegraph.
It first launched plans in 2007, but kept them on hold and then withdrew tentative plans last June when it merged its privately held business with faltering KKR Private Equity Investors, known as KPE.
KKR will probably have been encouraged to float by first quarter results this year which showed rising credit and share markets.
It posted first quarter net income of $674.8m this year, up 31 per cent on the final quarter of 2009.
The company hopes to raise $500m through a share issue in the months after the flotation in order to create permanent capital and reduce its reliance on the cyclical buy-out business it is currently focused on.
KKR is known as one of the pioneer’s of leveraged buy-outs, or LBO’s and became infamous for its $30bn takeover of RJR Nabisco in 1988, which was the largest LBO in history.