The powerful US investment firm KKR has opened an office in Zurich, Switzerland, according to research by finews.ch. The private market specialist is primarily interested in the wealthy clientele of private banks in the country.
KKR Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the company, had already established a distribution company in Zurich in September of last year. Now, the office in the city is officially ready to start operating. This move marks the physical presence of the American private market giant in the local financial hub. KKR has been serving the Swiss market from other European countries such as Frankfurt and London for several years.
The team in Zurich includes Hagen Raab, previously with Schroders and Oddo, and Tomislav Culic, previously with HSBC and EIM. Initially, a small team will be on-site to establish contact with clients. The US financial investor is interested not only in institutional investors but also in offering its range of funds to the very wealthy clients of local private banks and independent asset managers (EAM).
This strategy, known as Global Wealth Solutions at KKR, is not entirely new and is already being implemented in Switzerland by the even larger US competitor Blackstone, as reported by finews.ch. Blackstone has also been operating with a small team from Zurich since 2021, establishing a network of contacts with private banks and asset managers for its private wealth division.
US giants like KKR and Blackstone are likely to find a receptive audience in Switzerland, as most private banks in the country actively promote high-margin private market investments to their wealthy clients. The largest players even enter into exclusive partnerships, such as UBS with the Zug-based asset manager Partners Group.
In addition, new fintech platforms like iCapital from the US and Moonfare from Berlin are trying to broaden access to sought-after private market investments and lower the entry threshold for wealth management. However, the “democratization” of alternative investments has not yet reached the affluent and retail segments due to regulatory hurdles.
Recently, the attractiveness of mostly illiquid investments, such as private equity and real assets, has decreased compared to low-risk investments like bonds, due to the interest rate environment. It has also become more expensive for financial investors to participate in companies. However, giants like KKR can rely on their scale and established reputation in this environment.
With a total managed assets of around $519 billion as of the end of June last year, KKR’s funds invest in a wide range of private equity, real assets, and credit. The company, founded in 1976, now operates 24 offices across four continents. Since 2021, the operational leadership is no longer held by the company founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts, but by Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | Europe |
| Countries | 🇨🇭 🇩🇪 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 |
| Sentiment | neutral |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | Hagen Raab, Tomislav Culic |
| Companies | iCapital, Moonfare, EIM, Partners Group, KKR Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, HSBC, finews.ch, Schroders, Oddo, UBS, Blackstone |
| Currencies | None |
| Securities | None |
