KKR to Open First Real Estate Office in LA

KKR is hanging its first shingle in Los Angeles to be closer to the commercial real estate action.

The New York-based alternative-asset manager will open an office for between 25 and 30 employees at an undisclosed building in L.A., Bloomberg reported.

The KKR team will focus on real estate, private equity, private wealth and institutional clients, according to Ralph Rosenberg, KKR’s global head of real estate. The opening date was not disclosed.

California, the world’s fifth largest economy, offers investment opportunities in entertainment, defense, healthcare and logistics, Rosenberg said, making the state’s largest city a target for KKR’s expansion.

“Real estate markets are going through a combination of repricing and deleveraging,” Rosenberg told Bloomberg. The Golden State is “where the action is going to be, and that’s where the opportunities are going to come.”

KKR was founded as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 1976. Co-founder George Roberts has long been based in the Bay Area.

The buy-out firm already has two other California offices in Menlo Park and San Francisco, with a total of 250 employees.

It’s not clear why KKR waited 47 years to establish an office in Los Angeles.

KKR has $65 billion of assets under management in real estate across equity and debt investments, and originated $12 billion of commercial mortgages last year. In May, the firm announced it bought industrial properties in Phoenix and Atlanta for $250 million.

— Dana Bartholomew