The private equity firm is investing $400m-equivalent of capital in the new fund alongside its limited partners.
Johannes Huth, head of KKR EMEA, and the first employee hired in the region in 1999, said that the firm “will invest our fifth European fund by maintaining the differentiated approach that has served us so well to date, combining our local country knowledge with the skill and insights of our sector teams to source and execute investments".
KKR raised European Fund IV, a €3.3bn vehicle in 2015, but really stepped up the pace of European acquisitions in 2017, according to Dealogic data. In 2015 and 2016, it made acquisitions valued at $2.8bn and $2.59bn respectively, while in 2017 it made acquisitions valued at $9.78bn and, in 2018, acquisitions valued at $10.48bn.
So far this year, the firm has made acquisitions valued at $8bn, putting it roughly on course for the same level.
This progression, however, belies a small number of highly concentrated investments. Flora Foods, the Unilever spreads business, closed in 2018 for a deal value of $8bn, while 2019’s figure has been boosted by the purchase of Fiat spinoff Magneti Marelli.
KKR said in its latest results that it had invested over €20bn of capital in European private equity deals, and that it had more than $40bn of European assets under management. This includes its activities outside traditional private equity, such as real estate, infrastructure, credit and CLOs.
The company said it had achieved 23.6% gross IRR for fully and partially realised investments as of September 30.