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Technology Stocks : Blank Check IPOs (SPACS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chartgod who wrote (1909)	11/19/2008 9:37:43 AM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3862

The Heckmann transaction was attractive, despite the fact that there has been some erosion in the Chinese economy. BK continues to suffer and KKR has pulled their offering. Cash is king. KKR's Roberts Reflects Lisa LaMotta, 11.17.08, 5:30 AM ET George Roberts is no longer a barbarian at the gate but is cowering in his cave, waiting for the storm to end. Co-founder of the once mighty private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Roberts is now hunkering down as KKR braces for the impact of the global financial crisis. He told a conference in Hong Kong on Thursday that setbacks in its portfolio will result in KKR's first annual loss in almost two decades. "There are going to be losses in portfolios. Until this year, we've only had one year where our portfolio was down and that was 1990-1991. And we'll obviously report a loss this year," he said. The global financial crisis has made times tough for Wall Street's former heavyweights. Earlier this month, KKR announced it would delay its highly anticipated initial public offering in the United States after its Amsterdam-listed affiliate suffered huge losses on its own investments. The private equity firm was set to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange at the beginning of November, but frozen credit markets and dismal conditions in the buyout business have left KKR and its competitors, like the now publicly traded Blackstone Group, flailing in the wind. The IPO originally would have valued the company at $15.0 billion, but it is unlikely that KKR would have had the same success that Blackstone Group had with its IPO, when it debuted at $31 per share at the market's peak. Blackstone is now trading at around $7 per share. Roberts, at the Hong Kong conference, did not divulge any information about KKR's plans to go public, beyond what the company has already said, which is that it is working toward a proposal. George Roberts began KKR with his cousin Henry Kravis and friend Jerome Kohlberg in 1976. The three former Bear Stearns employees pioneered the modern private equity business, but much has changed since they began their venture. Roberts is not optimistic about the immediate future: "No longer can you sit by, use the capital markets, put some leverage on a company and hope to make a good return. Those days are over with." --Reuters contributed to this article. forbes.com