KKR reports 42% drop in earnings on lower asset sales

KKR reports 42% drop in earnings on lower asset sales

By Chibuike Oguh

NEW YORK (Reuters) – KKR & Co Inc said on Tuesday its fourth-quarter after-tax distributable earnings dropped 42% year-on-year, driven by asset sale declines in its private equity portfolio and lower transaction fees in the capital markets division.

After-tax distributable earnings, which represent the cash available to pay dividends to shareholders, fell to $821.8 million from $1.4 billion a year earlier.

That resulted in after-tax distributable earnings of 92 cents per share, which exceeded the average analyst forecast of 86 cents per share, according to financial data provider Refinitiv.

KKR and other private equity firms struggled to sell assets for top dollar for much of the last year due to market volatility, rising inflation, recession worries and geopolitical tensions.

KKR said its income from carried interest, which consists of profit from asset divestments, fell 66% to $194 million in the fourth quarter. Transaction fees from its capital markets business, which collects lucrative fees for arranging financing for KKR portfolio companies, declined by 55% to $144.4 million. KKRs income from investments made out of its balance sheet dropped 34% to $223.2 million.

During the quarter, KKR said its private equity portfolio was flat in value, while opportunistic real estate funds depreciated by 8%. Infrastructure and leverage credit funds both gained 3%. By contrast, Blackstone Inc had reported that its opportunistic and core real estate funds depreciated by 2% and 1.5%, respectively, while its corporate private equity funds gained 3.8%.

Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), KKR said its net income dropped sharply to $83.2 million from $507.6 million. That drop takes into account the mark-to-market value of its funds from a year ago.

KKR said it raised $16 billion of new capital, invested $16 billion in new acquisitions, generated $559.4 million in fee-related earnings, retained $108 billion of unspent capital, and amassed total assets under management of $504 billion.

It declared a quarterly dividend of $0.155 per share.