HONG KONG-Kohlberg Kravis Roberts on Wednesday appointed a new chief executive at its Japan unit, part of a series of recent hirings at the private equity giant as it gets set to close a new $6 billion Asia fund.
Hirofumi Hirano has joined as the new managing director and C.E.O. of K.K.R. Japan, the firm said in an announcement on Wednesday. Mr. Hirano joins K.K.R. from AlixPartners Asia, a consultancy specializing in corporate turnarounds, where he served as managing director and head of the Asia financial service industry practice.
The move marks the fourth senior appointment K.K.R. has made in Asia in recent months as the New York firm seeks to expand in the region beyond the traditional buyout business, branching more into capital markets and asset management activity.
‘‘Looking out over the next decade and beyond, to continue our growth we must have the ability to do more than we can today,’’ Joseph Y. Bae, the managing partner of K.K.R. Asia, said in a statement. ‘‘Across Asia, private equity is not the form of capital that makes sense to everybody.’’
Unlike in the United States and Europe, where full takeovers are more common, buyout firms in Asia have faced challenges in deploying the traditional business model due to the prevalence of tightly held family companies whose owners can be reluctant to part with controlling stakes.
Partly as a result, buyout firms in the region are branching into nontraditional areas like advising companies on equity or debt market transactions, or expanding into asset management.
K.K.R. is currently in the process of closing its second Asia fund, a $6 billion war chest that is targeted to formally close by the end of June, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the fund has not yet closed and the information is not public.
K.K.R. raised $4 billion in 2007 in its first Asia fund, which is formally scheduled to be wound up in July.
The expansion happening alongside the new fundraising will see Mr. Hirano take over from Shusaku Minoda, who was appointed to the role of chairman of K.K.R. Japan. Also this week, K.K.R. said it hired Christopher Suan as a managing director in its capital markets team from Matlin Patterson Asset Management in New York, where he was chief investment officer. The markets team handles debt and equity financing, share sales, underwriting activities and helps structure new investment products.
Earlier this year, K.K.R. hired Hiro Shimizu, a managing director at Goldman Sachs Japan, to work on its capital markets team. It also added Diane Raposio, a former Deutsche Bank managing director in Sydney, to its Australia unit.
