KKR Elevates Domestic Private Equity Co-Heads to Global Roles

Peter Stavros and Nate Taylor were promoted to global co-heads of private equity, tasked with enhancing connectivity and supporting KKR’s investment model.

In a press release last week, $504 billion asset manager KKR announced that Peter Stavros and Nate Taylor have been named global co-heads of KKR’s private equity business, elevating the duo from their previous roles as co-heads of private equity in the Americas, which the duo had held since 2019.

“We are incredibly proud of our strong track record in Private Equity and the firm’s leadership positions in the US, Europe and Asia. This new global role will further optimize the culture of collaboration that underpins the success we deliver for clients,” co-CEOs Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall stated in the press release. “Over their nearly two decades at KKR, Nate and Pete have proven themselves as not only extraordinary investors, but true role models and leaders within the firm. They have also instituted a number of innovative frameworks for value creation, including broad based employee ownership and operational toolkits that have been instrumental in delivering value to our portfolio companies, their employees and communities, and for our clients.”

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As of December 31, 2022, KKR’s $165 billion private equity business included approximately 300 investment professionals looking after a portfolio of more than 200 companies in KKR’s private equity offerings—including its flagship private equity strategy—as well as middle market, healthcare growth, technology growth, impact and customized portfolio solutions strategies. The assets within KKR’s total private equity business have doubled since 2019.

CIO had previously reported that KKR is promoting an allocation of 40% stocks, 30% bonds and 30% alternatives, favoring more allocations to private equity, which “offers more robustness around diversification, and inflation protection for the macroeconomic environment ahead,” after stocks and fixed both provided negative returns in 2022.

Stavros holds a B.S. in chemistry from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School and has been with KKR since 2005. He had led the industrials investment team, where he pioneered an innovative employee engagement and ownership model which has been central to a portfolio of successful investments including Ingersoll Rand and Minnesota Rubber & Plastics, among others, prior to his tenure as co-head of private equity in the Americas.

Taylor holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and earned his MBA at Stanford University. Like Stavros, he has been with KKR since 2005, joining from Bain Capital. Prior to his tenure as co-head of private equity in the Americas, Taylor helped to build and grow the firm’s private equity business in the Asia Pacific region, establishing a firm presence in India. Taylor led the firm’s investment into Bountiful Company—sold to Nestle for $5.75 billion in 2021—US Foods and 1-800 Contacts, serving on the board of the latter two.

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Tags: Joe Bae, KKR, Nate Taylor, Pete Stavros, Private Equity, Scott Nuttall

Swedish pension AP1 reported an 8.6%, or SEK39.9 billion ($3.81 billion), investment loss in 2022, as its fixed-income and equity investments weighed down the portfolio to lower its asset value to SEK421.2 billion from SEK465.8 billion at the end of 2021.

The pension fund blamed the fixed-income and equity losses on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, high inflation and rising interest rates.

“2022 marked a dramatic end to the market environment of low inflation, record-low interest rates and growth that have boosted returns on financial assets since the global financial crisis of 2008,” AP1 CEO Kristin Magnusson Bernard said in a release. “Instead, simultaneous drops in equity and fixed income returns occurred through most of the year.”

Despite the overall negative returns, AP1’s alternative investments portfolio, which includes real estate, infrastructure and private equity funds, reported a positive return in 2022.

Bernard said that amid the current economic environment, the pension fund has taken short- and long-term moves to protect its investments. These moves include pro-actively changing its positions based on prevailing market conditions, such as by lowering equity exposure and reducing the duration of its fixed-income portfolio.

She also said that AP1 conducted its active ownership activities in 2022 with an increased focus on environmental, social and governance strategies.

“We have also kept our focus on sustainability to promote sustainable development, and we have implemented the new ESG strategy adopted by the board in 2021,” she said in a statement. “We also took further steps toward our goal of a carbon-neutral portfolio by the end of 2050, with a further reduction in the carbon footprint of our listed equity portfolio.”

Bernard said that part of the new ESG strategy includes directing more capital to investments that support sustainable development, while also meeting the pension fund’s risk-return requirements. She added that, since 2019, AP1 has reduced the carbon footprint of its listed equity portfolio by 57%.