KKR in 2003

The Road Ahead

It had been the experience, ingenuity and resources of KKR that had set the firm apart. KKR was in the business of identifying compelling investment opportunities and acting as a catalyst to bring together the right people and the right financial and operational resources to create substantial value for its investors and management-partners.

In 2003, though KKR believed that its capabilities had never been greater, it looked thin on management talent even as competition had intensified. Kohlberg had left the firm in the mid-1980s after developing serious differences of opinion with his two younger colleagues. Kravis and Roberts were approaching 60.

KKR was facing an acute shortage of good people. It had just 12 partners and 28 other executives. In contrast, firms like Carlyle and Blackstone, each of which employed more than 400 people could assign dozens of executives to each transaction.