KKR Mezzanine Chief Quits Firm

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. has asked the head of its European mezzanine business, Marc Ciancimino, to lead its $1 billion mezzanine fund in the place of Fred Goltz, who has decided to leave the New York-based private equity firm, sister news service Reuters reported. KKR confirmed the departure and new appointment after they were disclosed in a Jan. 30 memo to Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association, a KKR investor that published the information on its Web site.

Goltz is leaving for personal reasons, said the memo, which was penned by investment advisory firm Wurts & Associates. Goltz is moving to London where he plans to start a new business, a person familiar with the matter said.

KKR Mezzanine Partners aims to deliver returns of 15 to 20 percent, gross of fees, according to information on Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association’s Web site. The fund was launched in 2011 with a 10-year fund term.

Goltz joined KKR in 1995 from the corporate finance department of brokerage firm Furman Selz Inc. Ciancimino is currently a managing director in KKR’s London office. He joined KKR in 2008 from investment firm GSC Group.

Last October, Los Angeles-based private equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners said it had hired Lee Stern, who also helped found KKR’s mezzanine fund, as a managing director in its credit strategies investment team.

While private equity still accounts for most of KKR’s $66.3 billion in assets under management, the firm has been diversifying into credit, real estate and hedge funds to capture more market share in the alternative investment space.