KKR Marks 50th Anniversary With Look Back at 1988 Profile

KKR is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding this month. , remains focused on leveraged buyouts. U.S. conglomerate by annual revenues at the time, ranking just behind General Electric. The firm controlled companies including Safeway, Beatrice, and Owens-Illinois with combined 1987 revenues of about $38 billion.

KKR acted like a large corporation in its operations, using a lead partner from Deloitte Haskins & Sells and a favored executive recruiter for its portfolio companies. Henry R. Kravis and George R. Roberts held command of the firm following the departure of founder Jerome Kohlberg Jr.

a year earlier. The 1988 profile reported that Kohlberg, then 62, left after a management struggle over strategy. Kravis, then 44, and Roberts, then 45, prevailed in favoring a more aggressive approach that included hostile deals when necessary.

6 billion leveraged buyout fund the previous summer from pension funds, banks, and insurance companies. That equity base could support up to $35 billion in additional bank and subordinated debt for a total of $40 billion in buying power. 9% stake in Texaco and indicated it might increase the position to 15%.

KKR viewed its holdings as investments to be sold after several years rather than permanent assets. The firm would reshape operations, often shedding some assets, before exiting through private or public sales. Approximately 15 companies that had once been KKR properties, such as Amstar and Wometco, were no longer under its control by 1988.

Roberts are cousins who both grew up in the Oil Patch and attended Claremont Men’s College in California, where they studied economics. They later worked at Bear Stearns before founding the firm with Jerome Kohlberg Jr. in 1976. The 1988 article noted that the two men declined to be interviewed for the profile while permitting a cover photograph.

The original report stated that KKR’s approach had shifted from its earlier preference for friendly transactions, in which it often served as a white knight. The firm’s $40 billion in potential resources positioned it to pursue large transactions. U.S. companies including Ford, IBM, and Exxon.