<article>Private equity major KKR &amp; Co has secured a capital commitment of up to $75 million from Texas Permanent School Fund for its debut Asia-focused real estate fund.</article>

Private equity major KKR &amp; Co has secured a capital commitment of up to $75 million from Texas Permanent School Fund for its debut Asia-focused real estate fund.
The $44-billion state education fund approved the allocation to KKR Asia Real Estate Partners in a board meeting held on January 31.
KKR Asia Real Estate Partners is KKR&#8217;s first Asia-focused real estate fund. The private equity firm had last year hired former CLSA Real Estate CEO John Pattar to head its real estate business in the Asia Pacific. The appointment was seen as a precursor to KKR raising its debut Asia realty vehicle.
KKR&#8217;s Asia realty fund will invest across three strategies &#8212; traditional buy-fix-sell model, special situations (non-performing loans and distress), and platform and corporate restructuring. Focus markets include China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, according to a webcast of the Texas Permanent board meeting.
Asia is buyout major KKR’s “first priority” in 2019 as it seeks to expand its non-PE strategies in the market, co-president and co-COO Scott C. Nuttall recently said on the PE firm’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
Nuttall said the firm has built a strong presence in the region across non-PE strategies such as real estate, infrastructure and alternative credit. “The next step for us is the direct expansion of these non-PE strategies in Asia, all of which we have launched or plan to launch in 2019,” he added.
KKR’s second priority for 2019, Nuttall said, was scaling its real estate business. The firm currently manages about $6 billion in assets under management (AUM) through debt and equity-focused funds and permanent capital vehicles.
“Our focus is continuing to scale the platform with additional pools of capital, both debt and equity, across the US, Europe and Asia. In 2019, we expect to see fundraising for strategies across all three geographies, largely comprised of first and second generation funds,” Nuttall added.
In addition to the commitment to KKR&#8217;s real estate fund, Texas Permanent also agreed to commit up to $75 million each to Hong Kong-based PAG&#8217;s third special situations fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX and Rockpoint Group’s Real Estate Fund VI.
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<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/asia-kkr-priority-2019-nuttall-119920/">Asia is KKR’s first priority for 2019, says co-president Nuttall</a>

KKR had last year hired former CLSA Real Estate CEO John Pattar to head its real estate business in the Asia Pacific.

KKR bags up to $75m in commitments from Texas Permanent for first Asia realty fund

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KKR bags up to $75m in commitments from Texas Permanent for first Asia realty fund

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