KKR musters resources for technology deals in Asia-Pacific, raises fund and names Lucian Schoenefelder head of team
- Schoenefelder was previously leader of firm’s European technology growth deals
- New York-based firm is also raising regional technology fund
Global investment firm KKR is building a team and raising funds for technology deals across the Asia-Pacific region, people familiar with the matter said, as valuations tumble across the public and private markets.
The firm has named Lucian Schoenefelder, previously leader of its European technology growth deals, to spearhead the effort. As Asia-Pacific head of technology, Schoenefelder’s role will be twofold: first, to help with private-equity deals, generally larger than US$100 million in size; and second, to build a growth equity business that signs smaller transactions.
KKR, which has a long history of buyouts, is expanding into different areas of private market investing. The New York-headquartered firm had amassed about US$218 billion in assets under management by the end of 2019 from global investors seeking higher-yielding instruments, as central banks slashed interest rates to record lows.
In Asia, technology is the latest string in KKR’s bow, but it has nurtured credit, property and infrastructure strategies in recent years.
New investing themes will also help attract new blood to the firm, which was founded in 1976. KKR hired Karen Zhang in December as head of China emerging technology investments. She joined from New York-headquartered private equity firm General Atlantic, where she was head of China internet and technology deals. Zhang was responsible for General Atlantic’s investment into Beijing-headquartered Bytedance in 2017, an eight-year-old start-up whose valuation is already about US$78 billion. Before that, she was an investor for Chinese internet giant Baidu.
The technology growth fund adds to KKR’s ample firepower in the region. The firm, led by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, raised US$9.3 billion for the KKR Asian Fund III in 2017, which is focused on private-equity deals. In January, it closed the KKR Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II, a US$2.2 billion fund dedicated to growth equity investment opportunities in the technology space in North America, Europe and Israel.
A KKR spokeswoman declined to comment on any fundraising plans.
That said, companies in China appeared best placed to emerge soonest and with least damage from the global coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey by investment firm Fidelity International of equity and fixed income analysts, conducted between March 7 and 12 and released on Thursday. The technology sector will suffer less of a shock to earnings than others, the survey found.
Schoenefelder previously led KKR’s technology growth equity and internet private-equity investment in Europe. He was involved in KKR’s investments in British ticketing platform Trainline, cyber defence firm Darktrace and German media firm ProSiebenSat 1. He was promoted to partner in 2017. His new appointment was confirmed by a company spokeswoman and he will be based in Hong Kong.
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