KKR Credit

What they do

KKR began on 1 May 1976 as a private equity house focused on the US, with $120,000 of capital, and is now a global alternatives firm. Its credit business sits in the asset management engine beside private equity, infrastructure, real estate and capital markets; the other two engines are an annuity and reinsurance provider and a strategic holdings book. KKR reports $293bn of credit assets under management at 30 June 2026, or $331bn including liquid strategies. The money comes from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations and insurers, from eligible individual investors through its wealth platform and from family offices, with about $30bn of the firm's and its people's own capital invested or committed alongside. The borrower-facing products on its own pages are Capital Solutions, a hybrid of debt and equity for large, growing businesses, and leveraged finance and corporate credit for buyouts and acquisitions. The scale puts it above this market: KKR says its Capital Solutions companies average about $300 million of EBITDA and $3.5 billion of enterprise value, and it publishes no facility small enough for a £3m to £15m raise.

Who they lend to

KKR aims Capital Solutions at fundamentally healthy, large, growing businesses with strong management teams and leading positions in their industries. Its counterparties include sponsor-owned, family or founder-owned and listed companies, from multinational corporations to family businesses. The owners it describes are often under-levered by choice, in or about to start a period of organic or acquisitive growth, and weighing whether to sell control or bring in a capital partner for a three to five year plan. Its worked example from 2024 is a US manufacturer of precision-engineered parts for the fire and water safety market, owned by a mid-market private equity firm. A separate family capital team offers debt for buyouts and acquisition financings to families and entrepreneurs. Geography is global, with offices listed from London, Dublin and Madrid to Mumbai, Sydney and Toronto. KKR publishes no turnover or EBITDA floor and no lending criteria specific to the UK.

How they structure a facility

Capital Solutions combine contractual, debt-like terms with potential equity upside. KKR says the instruments generally carry a contractual return from day one, rank senior to the common equity with significant equity value beneath to absorb losses, and come with governance rights because the capital is partly an equity partnership. It describes multiple layers of downside protection, tight transaction structures and shorter durations than common equity, and its illustrative return profile assumes a five-year exit. The capital is priced above debt: KKR says companies with access to cheaper borrowing take it for the operating support, and that in its 2024 example it was not the cheapest cost-of-capital option. The family capital pages add conventional leveraged finance and corporate credit for buyouts and acquisitions. KKR does not publish margins, fees, leverage multiples, covenant packages, amortisation, security or guarantee terms for either line.

How a deal reaches them

KKR publishes no application route for borrowers. It says it originates Capital Solutions through its own model and has built the market with companies, advisers and investors, and its 2024 deal came when the company's management and private equity owner chose KKR over cheaper capital. The contact form on its family capital page is written for investors and restricted to people who meet the non-retail investor standard in their jurisdiction. KKR lists offices in London, Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris, but names no credit contact for UK companies. Who signs off a financing, how long a decision takes and what information a company must provide are not published.

Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise

KKR Credit's value to a £3m to £15m reader lies in its Capital Solutions paper, a clear public account of the trade an owner makes with structured capital. The owner keeps control and gains an active partner; in return the investor takes a higher cost than senior debt, a contractual return, a share of the upside and governance rights. Smaller funds sell the same shape of capital lower down the market, sized to companies with a fraction of the EBITDA. KKR's framing sets out what the extra cost buys an owner who is weighing that capital against selling a stake. A second lesson is the ranking: KKR invests senior to the common equity with significant value below it, which is the cushion any junior or hybrid lender in this market will also look for. Where a lower-mid-market company has a private equity owner and a growth plan, the conversation runs the same way at a smaller size.

Where they are not the fit

The businesses KKR describes average about $300 million of EBITDA, so every £3m to £15m raise sits well below them, and no smaller facility appears anywhere on its site. Owners who want the cheapest passive senior debt are also outside its pitch, since KKR prices Capital Solutions above debt and expects an active partnership, governance rights and operating input in return. A borrower that needs a quick answer has nothing to go on, as KKR publishes no decision timetable. Nor does it set out UK lending criteria, a sector list or a minimum facility for a smaller company to measure itself against.

Recent activity on the public record

In October 2026, KKR published a paper on Capital Solutions setting out how it structures the capital and putting the average portfolio company at about $300 million of EBITDA. In June 2026, it reported $293bn of credit assets under management, $331bn with liquid strategies. In December 2025, the firm and its people had about $30bn invested in or committed to its own funds and portfolio companies, including about $15bn funded from the balance sheet. In 2024, it provided Capital Solutions to a US maker of precision-engineered fire and water safety parts, chosen by the company's mid-market private equity owner although KKR was not the cheapest source of capital.

This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.