KKR, the PE investor who has backed firms like Reliance Retail and Eurokids in India, has raised its largest ever Asia fund at $15 billion

• American private equity giant KKR has closed its Asian Fund IV at a whopping $15 billion, making it the largest PE fundraise for the company in Asia.
• KKR’s firm in itself is investing $1.3 billion into the fund.
• Having launched the Asia focussed fund in 2005, KKR currently counts $30 billion in assets under management in the region.

US-based private equity firm KKR has closed its Asian Fund IV at $15 billion, making it the largest PE fundraise for the company in Asia. KKR’s firm in itself is investing $1.3 billion into the fund.

For the fundraise, KKR exceeded its initial target of $12.5 billion. The Asia Fund invests in companies from sectors like consumer and retail, financial services, healthcare, industrials, technology, media and telecommunications.

“Over the last 16 years we have strategically built our Asia Pacific platform and diverse regional team to unlock what we believe are some of the most compelling investment opportunities in the world given Asia Pacific’s growth and dynamism. Our new flagship private equity fund meaningfully adds to our multi-asset platform and strengthens our investment position across the region,” said Ming Lu, head of KKR Asia Pacific in a statement.

Having launched the Asia focussed fund in 2005, KKR currently counts $30 billion in assets under management in the region alone across sectors like private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and credit.

The investment is spread across 60 companies in 11 countries.

With the latest investment, the PE giant is now on the lookout for opportunities that are in ‘consumption and urbanisation trends as well as corporate carve-outs, spin-offs, and consolidation’.

“The opportunity for private equity investment across the Asia Pacific is phenomenal. While each market is unique, the long term fundamentals underpinning the region’s growth are consistent – the demand for consumption upgrades, a fast-growing middle class, rising urbanisation, and technological disruption,” said Hiro Hirano, co-head of private equity for KKR in Asia Pacific, in a statement.