Private equity firms receive lacklustre response in Australia

Sydney

WHEN the financing arm of General Electric agreed last week to sell its consumer lending business in Australia and New Zealand to a consortium of investors that included the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), the firm's managing partner for Asia trumpeted the news.

"KKR is honoured to be an owner of such a world-class franchise," the partner, Joseph Bae, said in a statement. "We will leverage KKR's global and regional expertise and platform to create an exciting future for this business." It was a rare victory lap in Australia for American private equity firms, which have few fans in Australia's boardrooms. Private equity firms are perceived as trying to buy companies on the cheap in an environment where few deals meet their normal investment threshold of at least US$1 billion.