Kim Kardashian draws crowds with private equity pitch in Berlin

KIM Kardashian presented her debut private equity fund to a sea of curious investors in Berlin at the SuperReturn conference on Wednesday (Jun 7).

The reality TV star turned entrepreneur, who last year announced that she would partner with Carlyle Group veteran Jay Sammons to start Skky Partners, hosted the most popular panel at the three-day event, with an overflow room filled to capacity at the conference centre.

“I am most looking forward to my relationships with the founders. I’m really fascinated to hear their back stories,” Kardashian said. “I’m a storyteller and I’m so excited just to have the opportunity to help them win.”

With a focus on consumer brands, Skky Partners presented Kardashian’s huge social media following and history of success in promoting beauty and retail labels as a part of their pitch to investors.

Kardashian has transformed from a celebrity famous for being famous to building multibillion-dollar businesses including undergarment company Skims, which last year raised funds at a valuation of more than US$3 billion. Sammons worked at Carlyle for nearly 17 years, and was associated with investments including Beats by Dre, skincare company Philosophy and Beautycounter.

At the panel, questions about Skky’s strategy were mostly directed to Sammons, while Kardashian was asked about her career as an influencer and whether she drives her children to school.

Skky Partners is targeting ten to 12 investments related to consumer and media, requiring anywhere from US$100 million to US$500 million of equity each, according to an investor presentation seen by Bloomberg.

The firm is asking for a minimum US$10 million commitment from limited partners, with documents showing a hurdle rate of 8 per cent compounded annually, which is the minimum return Skky needs before earning carried interest.

Kardashian has run into trouble for using her social media presence to pitch investments in the past. This week a US district judge allowed a case to advance that alleges Kardashian made false claims about a cryptocurrency called EthereumMax. A lawyer for Kardashian didn’t respond to a request for comment placed at that time.

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in October that Kardashian had agreed to pay US$1.26 million to settle allegations that she broke US rules by touting Emax tokens. The SEC said Kardashian didn’t disclose that she was paid US$250,000 to post on her Instagram account about the tokens.

Kardashian settled without admitting or denying the SEC allegations. BLOOMBERG