According to a source familiar with the matter at hand, KKR & Co Inc has collected $18.5 billion for its latest flagship North America private equity fund, in what is slated to be its biggest-ever fund in less than five months.

The fundraising was wrapped up relatively quickly by industry standards, and came at a time when travel was limited due to the Coronavirus-induced COVID-19 pandemic underscoring investor demand for private-equity funds that promise to outperform the booming stock market.

According to sources, KKR has raised nearly $17 billion for KKR North America Fund XIII from investors including family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and public and private pension funds. Further, an additional $1.5 billion has been committed to the fund by KKR and its employees, said sources.

While the fund attracted $24 billion in commitments from investors, KKR decided to scale it back in order to deploy the capital selectively over the next few years, said sources.

A spokeswoman for KKR declined comment.

Led by co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts, KKR had $349 billion in assets under management as of April 2021, including the portfolio of annuities and life insurance provider Global Atlantic Financial Group Ltd.

Categories: Creativity, Economy & Finance, Entrepreneurship, HR & Organization, Regulations & Legal, Strategy

Tags: annuities, assets under management, AUM, capital, co founders, coronavirus, COVID-19, deploy, employees, family offices, flagship, George Roberts, Global Atlantic Financial Group Ltd, Henry Kravis, investor demand, investors, KKR & Co Inc, KKR North America Fund XIII, life insurance, North America private equity fund, outperforms, pandemic, portfolio, private equity funds, private pension funds, public pension funds, selectively, sovereign wealth funds, stock market