KKR & Co. LP on Thursday closed capital-raising for its third global infrastructure fund at $7.4 billion (Rs 53,291 crore), the private equity firm said in a statement.
KKR Global Infrastructure Investors III will invest mostly in OECD countries, the statement said. OECD or Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which includes most of the highly developed economies, helps its member states to develop economically by producing studies, statistics and more.
KKR will invest $358 million through its own balance sheet and employee commitments.
“The current demand for global infrastructure investment is simply enormous, and is only growing, with the need outstripping capital available,” said Raj Agrawal, KKR member and global head of infrastructure business. “This dynamic, coupled with limited public-financing sources, has created a significant need for private capital to provide infrastructure solutions,” said Agrawal.
KKR's fund will focus on opportunities offering low volatility and strong downside protection, said the private equity firm.
The fund has an investment mandate spanning several infrastructure sectors: energy, transport, social and communications infrastructure, and others.
KKR is the latest to announce the close of money-raising for its infrastructure fund. This week, I Squared Capital also announced the close of its $7 billion global infrastructure fund. US-based Global Infrastructure Partners closed a mammoth $15.8 billion fund for infrastructure investments in January while Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets finished capital-raising for its $3.3 billion Asian infrastructure fund in April.
KKR first established an infrastructure team and strategy in 2008. Since then, the team has grown to 25 investment professionals and has completed or announced 25 transactions across geographies. With the closing of the fund, KKR’s infrastructure business controls approximately $13 billion in assets under management, the private equity firm said.
