KKR founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts step down from the throne
Private equity grandees Henry Kravis and George Roberts, who founded KKR in 1976, are stepping down as co-chief executives of their eponymous buyout firm.
Succeeding them, Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall, who have both served as co-presidents for four years, have taken the helm.
Both Kravis and Roberts will remain actively involved in the private equity giant’s investment strategy as executive co-chairs of its board, KKR announced this morning.
“We could not be more excited about this moment in time,” Kravis and Roberts said in a joint statement.
“There is such a huge need for private capital to support businesses, and KKR still has so much potential even 45 years later.”
Cousins Kravis, 77, and Roberts, 78, studied together at college in the late 1960s and after a stint at investment bank Bear Stearns, founded KKR in 1976 with Jerome Kohlberg.
Since then, the firm has grown from a US-focused buyout firm to a global industry behemoth, that counts a range of alternative asset classes like real estate, impact investing and energy, amongst its investments beyond just private equity.
KKR follows industry rivals the Carlyle Group and Apollo Global Management who have both swapped their founders for younger bosses in recent years, as the $4tn private equity industry evolves and considers more alternative assets as well as traditional corporate buyouts.