Henry Kravis: Dealmaker Extraordinaire
Valued at $6.5 billion by Forbes, and possessing a name that will be forever remembered as a gold standard in private equity, Henry Kravis has gone a long way from the Oklahoma-born youngster who, in 1976, opened a checking account for $10,000 together with cousin George Roberts and mentor Jerome Kohlberg, Jr. to establish Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company. Now 65 years old and living a career spanning three decades, Henry Kravis is not slowing down on what he does best: dealmaking.
After KKR bought RJR Nabisco in 1989, many thought that would be the biggest figure ever paid out on an LBO, but Kravis and his partners proved them wrong. A series of bigger-valued acquisitions of the country’s most significant companies would soon follow. In 2006, Kravis beat his own record after arranging the buyout of HCA, the country’s biggest hospital chain, for a whopping $33 billion. In 2008, he orchestrated the largest buyout to date in partnership with Goldman Sachs and TPG – the $44 billion purchase of Texas Utilities.
Aside from executing the most extraordinary deals, Henry Kravis performs his responsibilities to society well. He is active in the New York scene when it comes to philanthropy and was even ranked 25th in The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of the most generous Americans for 2008.
http://philanthropy.com/topdonors/gifts.php?view=topdonor&donor=PGDON1967&year=2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlberg_Kravis_Roberts