John At The Center

But the clearest signal that things are looking up for private equity is the news that the granddaddy of the industry, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), is to revive its plans to go public—and fast. These plans were postponed after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers last September led to a meltdown in the financial markets. By early this year KKR’s partners were considering abandoning the IPO for good. Now, they are in a hurry to get it done. The IPO is due to take place in October, through a reverse merger of the holding company into a European unit that KKR floated in happier times. By this method, KKR gets a listing in Amsterdam at least a year before it could get one in America—though the firm says it will put in place corporate-governance measures designed to meet the high standards of the New York Stock Exchange rather than the less demanding Dutch requirements.

via Business.view: The barbarians are coming, again | The Economist.