KKR to go public

KKR's announcement of going public came at a time when market is hitting bottom everyday. KKR’s rival Blackstone went public at the peak of the market last year (June, 2007). Blackstone milked money through its public offer but it is very unlikely that KKR will be able to cash on IPO offering. Blackstone got listed at $31 and reached to $37-$38 very first day. Since then it never came back to same price. Today it is being traded at around $17. A sad story for a company, which made lot of news and front page stories on all the business magazines till last year.

Unlike Blackstone’s founders, KKR’s executive won’t take out cash from public listing. KKR’s share expected to be valued at 10 to 12 times of 2009 earnings, giving KKR a total valuation between $12b and $15b. Blackstone’s shares are traded at 13 times the company’s expected 2009 earnings.

Blackstone’s executives are happy that they won’t be alone in Private Equity segments to report company’s result to public every quarter. I am happy that I now have choice to buy shares in Private Equity segment.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121717198753387877.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN2741395420080727?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0