Korean-American Joseph Bae Appointed Co-CEO of KKR, One of the World's Top 3 Private Equity Firms

▲Joseph Y. Bae

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Korean-American Joseph Y. Bae has been appointed co-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the global management-focused private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). KKR is considered one of the world's top three private equity firms alongside Blackstone and Carlyle.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 11th (local time), KKR announced in a statement that co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts would step down from their management roles, and Joseph Bae and Scott Nuttall would be appointed as the new co-CEOs.

Having served as co-president and co-Chief Operating Officer (COO) alongside Nuttall since 2017, Bae graduated from Harvard University, worked at Goldman Sachs, and joined KKR in 1996.

Amid the contraction of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the U.S. due to the 2008 global financial crisis, he established the Asia investment division, creating new revenue streams for KKR and earning recognition for his capabilities in the private equity industry.

Joseph Bae is also known to have played a significant role in KKR's acquisition of Oriental Brewery (OB) in 2009 for $1.8 billion (approximately 2.15 trillion KRW) and its subsequent sale in 2014 to Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) for $5.8 billion, generating substantial profits.

Scott Nuttall, who joined KKR in 1996 alongside Joseph Bae, pioneered KKR’s business of advising companies on corporate bonds and equity offerings while also investing its own capital, helping differentiate KKR from other private equity firms.

Henry Kravis and George Roberts, who founded KKR in 1976 together with the late Jerome Kohlberg who passed away in 2015, will continue to serve as co-chairmen.

Meanwhile, KKR announced plans to restructure its governance by changing the current structure, which grants founders more voting rights, to a one-share-one-vote system. The company intends to phase out super-voting shares with multiple votes per share by 2026.

Notably, KKR gained fame in 1988 by acquiring the global tobacco company RJR Nabisco through a leveraged buyout, a story detailed extensively in the bestseller book "Barbarians at the Gate."

KKR went public through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2009, and as of the end of the second quarter this year, its assets under management total $429 billion (approximately 514 trillion KRW).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.