Two private equity consortia plan to bid for Direct Line, the insurer owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, writes Reuters. Interested parties include Blackstone Group and Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Apax and BC Partners. (Reuters) – Two private equity consortia plan to bid for Direct Line, the insurer owned by Royal Bank of [...]

Global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has closed its infrastructure and natural resource funds. The firm’s energy and infrastructure platform now manages $4 billion in non-private equity related assets. PRESS RELEASE Global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (together with its affiliates, “KKR”) today announced that with the closes of its infrastructure and [...]

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has announced a $150 million growth equity investment in Fotolia. KKR, TA Associates and management also worked with KKR Capital Markets and a number of relationship banks to put in place a $150 million senior financing for the company. Fotolia received its first growth investment from TA Associates in 2009. Headquartered in [...]

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has hired Tashwinder Singh, a Citigroup official, as its director to grow KKR’s private equity and non-banking finance operations in India, writes Reuters. Singh has been with Citigroup for 18 years. Reuters – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. has hired Tashwinder Singh, a top official with Citigroup, as its director, the U.S. [...]

Tour operator Thomas Cook has received at least eight bids, including private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Carlyle Group, for buying the company’s stake in its Indian unit, writes Reuters. The UK-based company last month said it planned to sell its 77 percent holding in Thomas Cook (India) to help bring down debt. Reuters [...]

Lower-rated borrowers are seizing the opportunity to amend and extend their debt facilities while lenders are willing to accept them, sister magazine Buyouts reports.

The Washington State Investment Board, which manages more than $80 billion in pension assets, made more than $1 billion in commitments to a trio of private equity funds, two of which just started their fundraising efforts.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. is in talks to buy most of Samson Investment Co., a privately held U.S. oil and gas company, Reuters reported Tuesday. The private equity firm is not likely to want Samson’s Gulf of Mexico assets, one of the sources said. While the whole company could be worth $8 billion to $10 billion, KKR’s bid without the Gulf of Mexico assets is likely to be in the range of $7 billion, Reuters wrote.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is placing an early bet on a slowdown in the Chinese economy, and plans to expand into Hong Kong in the next six to nine months with its $2 billion special situations unit, Reuters reported, citing a story in the Financial Times. The buyout group’s plans follow news that top TPG Capital dealmaker Weijian Shan has raised $875 million for a distressed asset fund to invest in Asia under his PAG group.

Three industries saw payments by financial sponsors to investment banks more than double during the first six months of this year, compared to the same period in 2010, according to global data from Freeman & Co. analyzed by sister magazine Buyouts in its August 1 edition. The Energy, power & commodities industry is the leader, based on [...]