KKR Proposes A Double Secret Reverse IPO
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. today announced that it will not proceed with the IPO it filed for two years ago (which we already knew). It also scotched a revised NYSE listing scheme proposed last year, which would have included the absorbtion of an Amsterdam-listed affiliate called KKR Private Equity Investors (a plan I’ve been referring to as KKR’s un-IPO). Instead, KKR has come up with a third path to publichood: It wants to merge part of its management company with the Amsterdam-listed affiliate (KPE), but keep the combined entity trading Dutch for a little while longer. In other words, KKR would actually be going public (albeit on NYSE Euronext instead of NYSE proper). There have been some media reports that KKR is “dropping” or “abandoning” its Big Board listing ambitions (The FT is a major culprit), but it’s simply untrue. The new agreement would give KKR the option to float the combined entity in New York for the next 12 months, after which the option would be transferred to KPE. That deadline is really more a backstop than anything else, with KKR most likely to price in New York next spring (after IPOs for Dollar General and HCA, perhaps?).
