KKR has hired former IDEX Corp chief executive Andrew Silvernail as advisor to help buy and operate companies in the industrials, healthcare and consumer products sectors.
Joshua Weisenbeck, KKR’s head of industrials, said in an interview that Silvernail is expected to become chairman of the companies that KKR acquires.
He will also take up the implementation of KKR’s flagship employee stock ownership program, according to the report.
“We’re in a late-cycle environment. We see this as an opportunity to acquire differentiated businesses,” Weisenbeck said.
Silvernail spent nine years as CEO at industrials group IDEX until his retirement in 2020. He then spent a year as chief executive of privately-held conglomerate Madison Industries.
He had also previously been executive at industrial firms Danaher Corporation, Rexnord Industries and consumer goods giant Newell Brands.
KKR industrial agreed to buy industrial meat processing equipment and parts business Bettcher Industries from MPE Partners in November, marking its third platform acquisition in the year, following Flow Control Group and Charter Next Generation.
The buyout giant is reportedly eyeing up to $5bn for its first-ever fund targeting mid-sized businesses in North America.
It hauled in $9bn for its flagship North America Fund IX in 2014, before raising $13.9bn for its giant successor vehicle in 2017. It had raised close to $17bn for Fund XIII by November last year.
KKR also surged to an enormous $17bn final close for its latest global infrastructure fund in March, more than twice the amount it collected for its predecessor in the strategy.
It raised $121bn of new capital in 2021 according to its latest earnings report, adding a huge amount of dry powder given that the firm invested $73bn last year.
Copyright © 2022 AltAssets
