NEW YORK — KKR & Co., the buyout firm run by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, has left shareholders of its two publicly traded vehicles with losses of more than 90 percent after write-downs on takeovers, mortgages and corporate loans.
KKR Private Equity Investors LP, a fund that invests in leveraged buyouts arranged by the firm, fell 8.9 percent in Amsterdam trading Monday after reporting that the value of its holdings tumbled 32 percent in the fourth quarter.
The buyout firm’s credit affiliate, New York-listed KKR Financial Holdings LLC, fell as much as 38 percent after posting a fourth-quarter loss of $1.2 billion.
Kravis and Roberts started both vehicles to supplement their private funds with public capital, which isn’t subject to investor withdrawals.
The plunge in global markets and a deepening recession have forced KKR to mark down the value of most investments and probably drop a plan to list publicly by acquiring KPE.
KPE stock has lost 91 percent since Kravis and Roberts, cousins who started KKR in 1976, raised $5 billion for the fund in May 2006. KKR Financial has lost 95 percent since the San Francisco-based company went public in June 2005.
