KBRA Acquired by Private Equity Firm in $900M Deal
By Andrew Coen December 13, 2021 1:19 pm
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Eleven years after its founding in the wake of the global financial crisis, Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) has struck a deal to be acquired by private equity firm Parthenon Capital Partners, the company announced Monday.
Boston-based Parthenon closed the roughly $900 million transaction to buy a majority stake in the global rating agency last Friday. The KBRA name will remain the same.
“When KBRA was founded, our mission was to provide the market with timely, valuable, and transparent ratings and research,” Jim Nadler, KBRA’s president and co-founder, said in a statement. “As we continue to expand both domestically and abroad, we are excited to partner with Parthenon to accelerate our future growth.”
Exact terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Since its inception in 2010, KBRA has issued more than 51,000 ratings totaling nearly $3 trillion of transactions, which has included a number of commercial mortgage-backed securities deals. The company also provides market data through its KBRA Analytics platform.
Manhattan-based KBRA employs more than 400 people across its five offices in the U.S. and Europe.
“KBRA has quickly become a leading voice among the major global rating agencies,” Zach Sadek, a partner at Parthenon Capital, said in a statement. “ The market clearly relies on KBRA for holistic, transparent and thoughtful credit ratings and research.
Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.
