Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,884.73
    +74.07 (+0.37%)
     
  • AIM

    743.26
    +1.15 (+0.15%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1711
    +0.0017 (+0.15%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2621
    -0.0001 (-0.01%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    55,660.90
    +424.42 (+0.77%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,420.15
    +252.08 (+0.63%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,205.81
    +1.00 (+0.01%)
     

KKR to buy tool components maker Hyperion from Sandvik

By Joshua Franklin

(Reuters) - Buyout firm KKR & Co LP (KKR.N) said on Friday it had agreed to buy industrial tool components manufacturer Hyperion from Sweden's Sandvik (SAND.ST), its first acquisition of a relatively small manufacturing company.

The deal, which Sandvik said in a statement was worth 4 billion Swedish crowns (£352 million), signals a shift by KKR from its past focus on larger deals.

"We like the industry and we think this is a neat company with lots of additional potential," Pete Stavros, the head of KKR's industrials investment team, said in a telephone interview.

KKR said the deal was being funded through its $13.9 billion Americas XII Fund, which finished fundraising earlier this year.

ADVERTISEMENT

Institutional and wealthy individuals have been increasingly eager to invest with private equity firms, which buy companies to sell a few years later for higher returns than available in public financial markets.

Buyout funds raised $66 billion in the third quarter, according to research firm Preqin, up 47 percent from the year-ago period. This cash influx into a growing number of private equity firms means the industry has an estimated $954 billion to invest.

KKR's move to look at the smaller-sized, or middle-market, businesses opens the door for more deal opportunities, Stavros said.

"If you think about someone who, on my team, covers the building products sector, which is a very fragmented space, there's just so much more transaction activity in the middle market," he said. "This'll give that person a lot more opportunities to look at."

Fair Lawn, New Jersey-based Hyperion has around 1,400 employees. KKR will continue allowing staff to have a stake in the companies it invests in, a policy it believes helps to improve profitability.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Richard Chang)