Even in the face of Blackstone’s abysmally performing IPO, the recent turbulent markets, and the likelihood that continuing credit market problems will lead to compressed profits, KKR is apparently still planning to go forward with their IPO according to an updated SEC filing. In the same filing, they disclosed that the SEC has asked them for documents in a probe announced last October in an investigation of so-called "club deals", where private equity firms have been alleged to team up, to drive deal prices down.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the private equity
group, yesterday indicated that it was continuing with plans to float, despite
severe losses last week in equity and debt markets and a warning that the credit
crunch may lead to reduced returns for its own investments.
KKR, one of the world’s biggest buyout
firms, also admitted yesterday, as part of amended regulatory filings ahead of
its flotation, that it had received a demand for documents from the antitrust
division of America’s Department of Justice. The firm, which had said in June
that it planned to raise $1.25 billion (£620 million), has still not committed
to a date for a float.
The documents requested form part of the
Department’s inquiry into whether private equity firms colluded over price in
buyouts in the US.
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Tags: Henry Kravis, IPO, KKR, Private equity
