KKR eyes market blitz of up to six IPOs

By Martin Arnold in London

Published: August 1 2009 03:00 | Last updated: August 1 2009 03:00

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the world's biggest buy-out group, is preparing up to six companies for initial public offerings worth billions of dollars, including Toys R Us, as it sells some of its most valuable groups back to the stock market.

There have been virtually no IPOs in the past two years but, as the worst of the financial crisis recedes and stock markets start to rebound, investors are eagerly waiting to see if private equity firms such as KKR will start listing companies bought in the boom years.

A person familiar with KKR said the companies it was preparing to float included US toy retailer Toys R Us; HCA, one of America's biggest hospital groups; First Data, the credit card processor; TDC, the Danish telecommunications group; and Dollar General, the discount retailer.

"We think there are five to six companies in the [KKR] portfolio that can be taken public in the next 12 months," said a person familiar with KKR's plans...

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