KKR hires Goldman’s Kate Richdale to head Asia-Pacific business
2 min read . Updated: 05 Mar 2019, 12:01 AM IST- Kate Richdale’s appointment builds on KKR’s significant investment in its Asia franchise
MUMBAI: American private equity major KKR & Co. on Monday said that it has hired senior Goldman Sachs executive Kate Richdale to head its Asia Pacific’s strategy and business development vertical.
Richdale was chairman of investment banking, Asia Ex-Japan, of Goldman. Earlier, she was the head of investment banking for Asia Pacific at Morgan Stanley.
Richdale will work with KKR’s senior leadership team in Asia to help the firm expand its platform across businesses and new investment strategies. She will also work with KKR’s Asia investing businesses to assist in advancing the deal origination pipeline, and to get involved at a strategic level with the firm’s key client relationships across the region, the statement said.
“Asia Pacific holds enormous opportunity for investment and partnership and is an integral part of KKR’s global growth strategy. Given our market position and commitment to building out our platform, now is the right time to bring in a talented executive like Kate Richdale. Kate has an unparalleled quarter-century record of serving clients with strategic advice," said Joseph Y. Bae, co-president, KKR.
Richdale’s appointment builds on KKR’s significant investment in its Asia franchise. Over the past year, the PE firm has hired John Pattar and David Luboff, to head its real estate and infrastructure investing platforms, respectively. Besides, Brian Dillard relocated from KKR’s New York office to Hong Kong to lead the firm’s credit business, the company statement added.
“Since we started investing in Asia nearly 15 years ago, KKR has grown from a private equity investor to a diversified alternative solutions provider spanning credit, capital markets, real estate and infrastructure. Our first phase of growth has focused on scaling our private equity business, and now we have the great opportunity to meet the growing needs of Asian businesses and entrepreneurs. Appointing Kate as our head of strategy and business development will accelerate our growth in Asia," said Ming Lu, member and head, KKR Asia.
KKR’s India unit has also seen senior hiring in recent times. In December, the PE firm appointed Sumanth Cidambi and Vijay Padmanabhan as directors to strengthen its credit business in India.
In November, KKR Capstone, which houses the operating team of the private equity firm, had hired Myntra chief strategy officer Ananya Tripathi as director.
KKR is raising $1.5-2 billion for its first Asia-focussed infrastructure fund, Mint had reported in November. It has hired Hardik Shah from Brookfield Asset Management LLC, a leading infrastructure investor in India, to lead its infrastructure investments business in the country.
Earlier in 2018, KKR India Financial Services had hired two directors—JPMorgan and Chase and Co.’s Jigar Shah and Kotak Investment Bank’s Niraj Karia—as legal and compliance head, and senior credit originator, respectively.