2. KKR
New York, United States
We are continuing our list of most successful private equity firms in the world with KKR (AKA Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) that was founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis, and George Roberts after their dispute with their former employer Bear Stearns. Only a year later they have managed their first buyout. A.J. Industries was bought with funds from several investors. By 1978 they were managing a $30 million investment fund, but the real breakthrough came in 1981 when they secured Oregon State Treasury’s public pension fund for their flock of investors. Their biggest deal (and the biggest leveraged buyout in history, period) was RJR Nabisco. For a fantastic sum of $25 billion ($31.1 billion with debt, which is $66.9 billion in 2017 dollars), KKR (minus Kohlberg, who retired a few years later) secured a deal that would secure them a place among the biggest private equity firms in the world.
