KKR held the final close of KKR North America Fund XIII (NAX3) at $19 billion, the largest fund in its history with KKR executives investing $2 billion of its own capital alongside investors through the firm’s balance sheet affiliates and employee commitments.
NAX3 received strong support from a diverse group of both new and existing investors globally, including public and private pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, private wealth platforms, family offices, high-net-worth individual investors and other institutional investors.
“Thanks to the strength of our Americas Private Equity investment team and extensive collaboration across our Firm, we are pleased to have been able to deliver consistent and attractive risk adjusted returns to our investors, even in the face of a global pandemic,” said Alisa Amarosa Wood, global head of Private Markets and Real Assets Product Strategies at KKR. “With this closing of KKR’s largest fund in our history, we are excited by our investors’ shared enthusiasm for the investment opportunities we continue to see ahead.”
NAX3 focuses on pursuing opportunistic private equity investments in North America, building on KKR’s 45-year track record in the region. Over the past decade, predecessor funds, KKR North America XI and KKR Americas XII Fund, KKR has delivered an average net IRR of 25.1% and a gross multiple on invested capital of 2.2x net of fees. Officials pointed out that the gains outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 850 basis points. KKR Americas XII Fund, which began investing in 2017, the firm said has fully deployed its capital. That predecessor funds gross IRR has been 50.1%, officials said.
“Particularly at a time of continued volatility, we believe we are entering a macroeconomic environment that is tailor-made for private equity and for KKR specifically, and are grateful to have the support of our investors and their confidence in our team,” said Pete Stavros and Nate Taylor, co-heads of Americas Private Equity platform at KKR, in a joint statement. “We look forward to continue executing on our investment approach, which is centered on leveraging our deep industry expertise and driving holistic operational transformations utilizing the full suite of resources KKR has to offer. We are excited about the early momentum for NAX3 and remain laser focused on delivering outstanding results.”
KKR’s Americas Private Equity platform now has more than $90 billion in assets under management across flagship, growth and core investment vehicles. The global private equity platform is also growing and includes dedicated regional private equity funds in Asia and Europe.
The firm releases its earnings for the first quarter on May 3, but at the end of last year KKR’s assets under management grew to $471 billion up 87% year over year with $121 billion in capital raised by the alternative investment firm in 2021. The announcement of the NAX3 fund close follows the firm’s largest infrastructure fund launch at $17 billion.
The new fund intends to implement KKR’s broad-based employee ownership program at majority-owned companies in which it invests. Since 2011, KKR has focused on employee ownership and engagement as a key driver in building stronger companies and driving greater financial inclusion. The firm is committed to deploying the model in all control investments across its entire Americas Private Equity platform. To date, KKR has awarded billions of total equity value to over 45,000 non-senior employees across over 25 companies.
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP represented KKR as primary fund counsel for this fundraise.
