KKR investments decline 32% in Q4

KKR & Co's publicly traded buyout fund said the value of its investments fell 32 percent in the fourth quarter as it wrote down holdings in companies including First Data Corp and Energy Future Holdings Corp.

KKR Private Equity Investors LP's (KPE) net asset value dropped to $12.78 a share on Dec 31 from $18.85 three months earlier, the Channel Islands-based fund said. KKR, which has twice delayed a plan to go public through an acquisition of the fund, expects to finish analyzing the transaction in the next few weeks.

The fund, started in May 2006 by KKR co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts to raise permanent capital, has been forced to mark down holdings by as much 100 percent as the global recession erodes equity values and makes it harder for companies that went through a leveraged buyout to repay loans. Blackstone Group LP, the world's biggest buyout firm, posted a fourth-quarter loss of $827.1 million last week after writing down private-equity holdings by about 20 percent.