KKR goes public

PRIVATE equity became a little less private yesterday.

A unit of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, the private equity giant that came to fame with the $25 billion buyout of RJR Nabisco in 1989, went public in a $5 billion offering in Amsterdam.

Demand for the fund unit was high: the offering raised more than three times what was expected. Nonetheless, its first-day performance was lackluster. Shares of the fund, KKR Private Equity Investors, closed down 1.68 percent on Euronext, the pan-European exchange, at $24.58. About 25 million shares traded hands, an eighth of the total listing