KKR announces strategic alliance with black owned Loop Capital Markets

Leading global investment firm KKR announced a strategic alliance with Loop Capital Markets, a black owned and Black led investment bank, brokerage and advisory firm under which Loop Capital could independently offer investment banking and equity research capabilities to KKR’s equity capital markets (ECM) clients, including private companies and private equity sponsors.

The deal will enable Loop Capital to offer its services to KKR equity capital markets clients which will bolster KKR’s capacity to serve as a full-service underwriter for initial public offerings (IPOs) for both KKR portfolio companies as well as non-KKR affiliated companies. Further, this strategic alliance will broaden KKR’s distribution base for ECM transactions by providing it access to Loop Capital’s complementary base of institutional investors.

Since 2011, KKR has worked with Loop Capital on ECM transactions when the latter was part of the underwriting syndicate for the IPO of Nielsen, a former KKR portfolio company. Since then Loop Capital has served as an underwriter on 15 KKR capital markets transactions, including IPOs and follow-on offerings for Fiserv, Academy Sports & Outdoors and KKR Acquisition Holdings I.

“This is an important milestone for our capital markets business and a testament to our continued commitment to expanding our ECM capabilities for the benefit of our clients,” said Adam Smith, Co-Head of Credit and Capital Markets at KKR. “We are excited to deepen our relationship with Loop Capital and look forward to bringing the benefits of their market-leading franchise to our platform.”

“We are thrilled to enter into this strategic alliance with Loop Capital to add to the suite of capabilities that we currently offer, particularly in relation to equity research and institutional sales,” said David Bauer, Managing Director and Head of Equity Capital Markets at KKR. “We are committed to providing our clients with the resources they need to be successful and entering this strategic alliance helps bolster this ability.”

“We have worked with KKR for over a decade and have tremendous respect for the leading capital markets platform that they have built,” said Jim Reynolds, CEO of Loop Capital. “I look forward to expanding our collaboration and bringing our firms closer together through this strategic alliance.”