Chief Financial Officer, Kkr
Search every verified Robert Lewin interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a June 2021 interview, KKR CFO Robert Lewin described the environment for capital deployment as challenging, though he noted that the firm's capital deployment was up 70% relative to the prior period. Lewin stated that KKR announced a record intra-quarter monetization, generating over $900 million in revenue, which he said was more than 100% of the average of prior quarters. He said the firm expects to more than double its earnings per share from about $2 to between $4 and $5 over the next few years through increased fee-related earnings and monetization of its investment portfolio. Lewin discussed KKR's international investment activity, noting that the firm's Asia business has $30 billion in assets under management, up nearly 100% year-over-year, with a focus on healthcare and corporate carve-outs in markets like Japan and Korea. In Europe, he cited telecom as a key theme, mentioning investments in fiber-to-the-home in Italy and a broadband platform in the Netherlands. Regarding the U.S., Lewin said the firm was seeing opportunities requiring more creativity and that office capacity was at 50-60%, with an expectation that most U.S. employees would return by mid-July. On tax policy, Lewin stated that KKR is focused on factors within its control and that any increase in corporate tax rates would affect KKR alongside other corporations.
“We announced our intra-quarter monetization today is a record number for us; last year we generated about two dollars per share and we expect over the next few years that we could more than double our earnings to four to five dollars per share.”
“Our 900-plus million dollars of revenue is more than 100% of the average of prior quarters, which really gives you a sense of our conviction and our ability to scale our earnings over the next number of years.”
“If you look back over the last 12 months our capital deployment is actually up 70% relative to the prior period — a lot of that capital was committed in the first half of 2020 when the markets were really dislocated.”
“We think we've got a few competitive advantages here at KKR: number one, we're a global organization with deep industry and asset-class expertise and a connected organization; number two, we're highly thematic in our approach; and lastly we've spent decades building capabilities that make the businesses we invest in be...”
“Our Asia business is a big part of KKR — we've got 30 billion dollars of AUM dedicated to the region that's up almost 100% year-over-year, and a big sub-sector we're deploying capital against is healthcare in Asia.”
“Across Europe a big theme for us is around telecom — in infrastructure and private equity — and a couple of transactions we've been able to get done are fiber-to-the-home in Italy and Open Dutch, a broadband platform in the Netherlands, that we recently backed.”
“The stuff we're seeing in the U.S. today means we have to be more creative and more thoughtful about putting capital to work, but we continue to see opportunities that take advantage of the broader investment platform we have across the firm.”
“In the U.S. today we're probably about 50 to 60% capacity in the office and that's been going up every week; our expectation as we get into the middle of July is that most of our people, at least in the U.S., are going to be back to work — getting everyone back to the office is really important for us.”
“We're focused on the things we can control; the legislative process out of Washington is not one of them — around carried interest and corporate taxation, KKR is a corporate taxpayer regardless of the income we receive, and if corporate tax rates increase KKR's tax is going to increase alongside all of corporate Americ...”
Jun.24 -- KKR CFO Robert Lewin says capital deployment is “up substantially” from a year earlier but the environment remains challenging. He speaks with Bloomberg's Alix Steel and Guy Johnson on "Bloomberg Markets: European Close."
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