KKR & Co. L.P. History

By 1976, tensions had built up between Bear Stearns and Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts, which led to the formation of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

In 1977 KKR bought three companies, but investors were hard to find and the firm made no deals the next year.

By 1978, with the revision of the ERISA regulations, the nascent KKR was successful in raising its first institutional fund with over $30 million of investor commitments.

In 1979, the firm staged the first large public-to-private transaction.

By the fall of 1980 the firm had paid nearly $800 million to acquire seven companies with combined annual sales totaling about $1.3 billion.

In 1981, KKR expanded its investor base after the Oregon State Treasury's public pension fund invested in KKR's acquisition of retailer Fred Meyer, Inc.

1982: The first equity capital fund is raised.

By 1983 KKR was claiming an average annual return of 63 percent to its equity partners.

After spending 1984 recovering from a serious illness, he returned to find that he was not needed or wanted by his younger partners.

In 1985 the firm acquired Storer Communications for a record $2.5 billion.

At age 61, Kohlberg resigned in 1987 (he later founded his own private equity firm, Kohlberg & Co.), and Henry Kravis succeeded him as senior partner.

When Storer was sold in 1988, KKR's partners achieved an annual return of around 50 percent.

After sixteen years of efforts, including contributing new equity, taking RJR public, asset sales, and exchanging shares of RJR for the ownership of Borden, Inc., KKR finally sold the last remnants of its 1989 investment.

As the new decade began, KKR began restructuring RJR. In January 1990, it completed the sale of RJR's Del Monte Foods to a group led by Merrill Lynch.

A similar transaction was KKR's 1991 injection of $283 million into Fleet/Norstar Financial Group for the purchase of the assets of the failed Bank of New England.

According to KKR, when the final returns from this deal were realized in 1992, limited partners enjoyed an annual return of 43 percent.

KKR began to reduce its ownership in RJR in 1994, when its stock in RJR was used as part of the consideration for its leveraged buyout of Borden, Inc., a producer of food and beverage products, consumer products, and industrial products.

In 1995 KKR traded its remaining stake in RJR for ownership of Borden Inc.

In 1996, KKR was able to complete the bulk of fundraising for what was then a record $6 billion private equity fund, the KKR 1996 Fund.

In January 1998, KKR and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst agreed to the $1.5 billion buyouts of Regal Entertainment Group.

Nabisco and Reynolds became independent with the 1999 spin-off of R.J. Reynolds shares.

Two years later, in 2000, Regal encountered significant financial issues and was forced to file for bankruptcy protection; the company passed to billionaire investor Philip Anschutz.

In 2001, however, it had to write off its barely two-year-old, $210 million investment in Birch Telecom Inc.

2002: Legrand SA is acquired.

KKR looked forward to completing a $610 million purchase of International Transmission Co., an electricity transmission company, in the first quarter of 2003.

In July 2004, KKR agreed to sell its stock in Borden Chemical to Apollo Management for $1.2 billion.

In 2005, KKR was one of seven private equity firms involved in the buyout of SunGard in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion.

In October 2006, KKR acquired a 50% stake in Tarkett, a France-based distributor of flooring products, in a deal valued at about €1.4 billion ($1.8 billion). On November 20, 2006, KKR announced it would form a A$4 billion partnership with the Seven Network of Australia.

The following year, in July 2008, KKR announced a new plan to list its shares.

KKR has announced that it expects to close the transaction in 2009.

In October 2010, KKR acquired about nine members of Goldman Sachs Group proprietary trading team after entertaining offers from investment firms such as Perella Weinberg and Blackrock.

In December 2011, Samson Investment Company was acquired by a group of private equity investors led by KKR for approximately $7.2 billion and Samson Resources Corporation was formed.

In March 2013, KKR exited its joint venture in music company BMG Rights Management, selling its 51% stake to Bertelsmann.

In September 2014, the firm invested $90 million in a lighting and electrics firm Savant Systems.

In January 2015, KKR confirmed its purchase of the British rail ticket website thetrainline.com, previously owned by Exponent.

In October 2016, it was reported that KKR invested $250 million in OVH to be used for further international expansion.

On July 6, 2017, KKR announced it would merge Northern California Mi Pueblo and Ontario-based Cardenas Market.

In July 2018, it was announced that KKR sold Gallagher Shopping Park, West Midlands in the UK to South Korean investors, Hana for £175 million.

In February 2019, KKR acquired the German media company Tele München Gruppe.

In May 2020, KKR announced that it will be investing $750 million in cosmetics producer Coty, Inc.