Henry Kravis

Henry R. Kravis (born January, 6 1944) is an American business financier and investor, notable for co-founding and heading a leading private equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR).

With an estimated current net worth of around $5.5 billion, he is ranked by "Forbes" as the 107th richest American. [ [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/54/biz_06rich400_Henry-R-Kravis_ED7G.html #107 Henry R Kravis - Forbes.com ] ]

Biography

The son of Bessie (Roberts) and Raymond Kravis, a successful Tulsa oil engineer who had been a business partner of Joseph P. Kennedy, Henry began his education at the Eaglebrook School, ('60) followed by high school at The Loomis Chaffee School. He then majored in economics at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California and graduated in 1967 before going on to Columbia Business School, where he received an MBA degree in 1969. [ [http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/kra0bio-1 Kravis Bio] ]

After working at various jobs in New York City's financial sector, he and his first cousin, George R. Roberts, joined the staff of Bear Stearns. There, they worked under the corporate finance manager, Jerome Kohlberg, Jr.. They both became partners at Bear Stearns at a very young age, 30 and 31.

Working for Bear Stearns in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Kravis, alongside Kohlberg and Roberts began a series of what they described as "bootstrap" investments. Their acquisition of Orkin Exterminating Company in 1964 is among the first significant leveraged buyout transactions. [ [http://www.investmentu.com/research/private-equity-history.html The History of Private Equity] (Investment U, The Oxford Club] . In the following years the three Bear Stearns bankers would complete a series of buyouts including Stern Metals (1965), Incom (a division of Rockwood International, 1971), Cobblers Industries (1971), and Boren Clay (1973) as well as Thompson Wire, Eagle Motors and Barrows through their investment in Stern Metals. Although they had a number of highly successful investments, the $27 million investment in Cobblers ended in bankruptcy. [*Burrough, Bryan. "Barbarians at the Gate." New York : Harper & Row, 1990, p. 133-136] Kravis and his associates created a series of limited partnerships to acquire these various corporations, ones they judged were performing well below their sales and profit potential or where there were untapped financial assets that could be monetized. In most cases, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co put up ten percent of the acquisition price from its own funds and borrowed the rest from investors by issuing high-yield bonds. [ [http://www.cfr.org/bios/12579/henry_r_kravis.html CFR Kravis Bio] ]

By 1976, tensions had built up between Bear Stearns and the trio of Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts leading to their departure and the formation of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in that year. Most notably, Bear Stearns executive Cy Lewis had rejected repeated proposals to form a dedicated investment fund within Bear Stearns and Lewis took exception to the amount of time spent on outside activities. [In 1976, Kravis was forced to serve as interim CEO of a failing direct mail company Advo.] Early investors in KKR included the Hillman Family and the Griffith family (who are also large shareholders in MGM and Time-Warner) [Refers to Henry Hillman and the Hillman Company. [http://www.answers.com/topic/the-hillman-company?cat=biz-fin The Hillman Company] (Answers.com profile)] By 1978, with the revision of the ERISA regulations, the nascent KKR was successful in raising its first institutional fund with approximately $30 million of investor commitments. [*Burrough, Bryan. "Barbarians at the Gate." New York : Harper & Row, 1990, p. 136-140]

In 1987, Jerome Kohlberg, Jr. resigned from KKR, and Henry Kravis and George Roberts continued to lead the firm. Under Kravis and Roberts the firm was responsible for the 1988 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco. At a cost of $31.4 billion [ [http://www.kkr.com/who/pe-pioneers.html Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co ] ] , it was then the highest price ever paid for a commercial enterprise. The publicity surrounding the event led to the story being dramatized in the book and film, "Barbarians at the Gate". In early 1995, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co divested its remaining holdings in RJR Nabisco.

The list of companies in which Henry Kravis's KKR has invested over the years includes health care provider Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), TXU [Lonkevich, Dan and Klump, Edward. [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ardubKH_t2ic&refer=home KKR, Texas Pacific Will Acquire TXU for $45 Billion] Bloomberg, February 26, 2007.] , Playtex, Beatrice Foods [Dodson, Steve. [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50E17F6385C0C748DDDA80994DD484D81 BEATRICE DEAL IS BIGGEST BUYOUT YET] . The New York Times, November 17, 1985.] , Safeway [FISHER, LAWRENCE M. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE0D8163BF932A15753C1A96E948260 Safeway Buyout: A Success Story] . The New York Times, October 21, 1988] , Duracell, Toys "R" Us [SORKIN, ANDREW ROSS and ROZHON, TRACIE. " [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/business/17toys.html Three Firms Are Said to Buy Toys 'R' Us for $6 Billion ] ." New York Times, March 17, 2005.] , Borden, First Data [" [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/business/03data.html K.K.R. Offer of $26 Billion Is Accepted by First Data] ." Reuters, April 3, 2007.] and Regal Entertainment Group. [MYERSON, ALLEN R. and FABRIKANT, GERALDINE. " [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE6DF1E38F932A15752C0A96E958260 2 Buyout Firms Make Deal To Acquire Regal Cinemas] ." New York Times, January 21, 1998.] [" [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E3D9133FF930A25753C1A9679C8B63 COMPANY NEWS; REGAL CINEMAS, THEATER OPERATOR, FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY] ." New York Times, October 13, 2001.]

Personal

Kravis has been married three times. His first marriage was to Helene Diane Shulman (deceased in 1997). They had three children before their marriage ended in divorce in the early eighties. Their 19-year-old son, Harrison, was killed in an automobile accident in 1991 and he has two remaining children, Robert Kravis and Kimberly Kravis Schulhof, both of whom are now in their thirties.

He later married New York designer Carolyne Roehm (born Carolyne Jane Smith) in 1985, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1993. [Shaw, Dan. " [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/realestate/15habi.html The Best Revenge (Isn’t It Always)] ." New York Times, October 15, 2006.] The home decorated for the couple by Robert Denning and Vincent Fourcade was parodied in the 1990 movie "The Bonfire of the Vanities (film)". ["Vincent Fourcade, 58, Decorator Known for His Ornate Interiors" by Carol Vogel, December 25, 1992, New York Times obituary [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4D8163BF936A15751C1A964958260 online] retrieved October 17, 2007]

Kravis is currently married to a prominent Canadian economist, Marie-Josée Drouin, a Fellow of the Hudson Institute and a former columnist and TV personality in Canada. She also sits on the boards of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Robin Hood Foundation, and is the president of the Museum of Modern Art board of directors. [THOMAS, LANDON Jr. " [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/business/17kravis.html Parallel Paths Diverging Sharply] ." New York Times, May 17, 2007.]

Kravis currently owns homes in New York, NY; Southampton, New York; Palm Beach, Florida; Paris, France; Meeker, CO; and Sharon, CT. [DeShazer, Danae. " [http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/features/25730/portraits-of-new-york-wealth/6.html Portraits of New York wealth: Henry Kravis] ." Time Out New York, Jan 17–23, 2008]

Politics

A supporter of Republican politics, he is a supporter and fundraiser for President George W. Bush and John McCain. He was a major contributor to the failed 1992 re-election campaign of President George H. W. Bush. In 1997, Henry Kravis joined with Lewis Eisenberg to establish the Republican Leadership Council.

Kravis has been subjected to criticism from various liberal campaigns, most notably "War on Greed," which attempts to document his lifestyle in an effort to force legislative changes in relation to the taxation of private equity, specifically the carried interest earned by private equity firms. [ [http://warongreed.org/ War on Greed Campaign Website] ]

Public positions and charity

Kravis funds the Henry Kravis Leadership Institute that sponsors the leadership studies programs at his alma mater, Claremont McKenna College, [ [http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/kli/ Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna College] (program website)] and the "Henry Kravis Internships for Teachers of Color" program. He has also financed the construction of extensive facilities at the Eaglebrook School, Deerfield Academy, and The Loomis Chaffee School.

He is a benefactor and a past chairman of New York's public television station and sits on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A Trustee of the Mount Sinai Medical Center, Henry and wife Marie-Josée Kravis donated $15 million to establish the "Center for Cardiovascular Health" as well as funding a Professorship. They have also endowed the chair in Human Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

He previously co-chaired with Jerry Speyer the influential "Partnership for New York City", founded by David Rockefeller in 1979, and now sits on its board of directors. [ [http://www.nycp.org/bod.html Partnership for New York City Board of Directors] ] He created the New York City Investment Fund, a non-profit organization to create jobs and new business in New York City.

He is a Trustee of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and is a member of the leading business group, the Business Council. He co-chairs the Columbia Business School Board of Overseers and is a vice-chairman of Rockefeller University.

Quotes

* "We've got a portfolio of companies that range all the way from hotels to television stations and cable TV companies, oil and gas, consumer products, and industrial products. If there's anything that I want to know more about, I have the opportunity. It's right in our portfolio. I can spend time at the factory or with the management and learn as much as I want. You can't get bored doing that."
* "A real entrepreneur is somebody who has no safety net underneath him or her."

ee also

*Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
*History of private equity and venture capital
*Private equity
*Leveraged buyout
*RJR Nabisco

References

1. [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/ED7G.html Forbes 2006 ranking] .

External links

* [http://www.kkr.com Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.] (company website)
* [http://www.kkr.com/who/pe-pioneers.html KKR Private Equity Pioneers] (from KKR website)
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/business/26kkr.html For TXU, One of the Street’s Fabled Barbarians Is Back in the Hunt] February, 2007 New York Times article profiling Kravis.
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01EEDE1F3BF932A15752C1A9679C8B63 Management: Consultants Put Aside Rivalries for New York] November, 2001 NYT article on Kravis and the New York City Partnership.
* [http://www.forbes.com/static/bill2005/LIRED7G.html?passListId=10&passYear=2005&passListType=Person&uniqueId=ED7G&datatype=Person Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People] (2005)
* [http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/54/2004/LIR.jhtml?passListId=54&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=ED7G&datatype=Person Forbes 400 richest americans] (2005)
*ATLAS, RIVA D. " [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E5D61331F935A1575BC0A9679C8B63 What's An Aging 'Barbarian' To Do?] ." New York Times, August 26, 2001