KKR Investment Vehicle for Mass Affluent Raises $1.8bn

In the past couple of years, these larger investors have reined in private equity investments amid elevated interest rates and economic uncertainty — spurring KKR and competitors such as Blackstone Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. to pursue well-off individuals.

KKR Infrastructure and KKR Private Equity represent the first time KKR has opened these types of deals to accredited investors, defined as individuals who, among other things, have a net worth of more than $1 million, not including their primary residence.

Raising billions of dollars from accredited investors requires KKR to reach far greater numbers of people, and to change the way it markets its funds. Instead of in-person meetings with the chief investment officer and trustees of a large pension fund, KKR has to conduct widespread outreach and education through webcasts to individual investors and their financial advisers.

The number of people who invested in KKR Infrastructure exceeds the figure given in the filing, according to a person familiar with the fundraising. That’s because the investor count in the filing includes feeder-type funds that pooled capital from more than one person.